Meeting of the National Advisory Committee on External Negotiations (NACEN)

The Honourable Hugh Hilton Todd, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on Wednesday July 12, 2023, hosted the Meeting of the National Advisory Committee on External Negotiations (NACEN) at the Arthur Chung Conference Center.

The NACEN is part of Guyana consultative mechanism on national trade policy and its mandate includes discussing and advising on current trade issues relating to Guyana regional and international trade. The NACEN is composed of key government Ministries and agencies with trade-related mandate as well as private sector and civil society organizations with interest in trade.

The Honourable Minister urged public and private sector stakeholders to operate in a coordinated manner to enhance Guyana trade performance in regional and international markets. He emphasized that the government is ready and committed to give policy direction and support in this endeavour, while observing Guyana’s obligations under the CSME and other Trade Agreements.

Minister Todd observed that there is unlimited capacity for Guyana private sector to expand its operations beyond the national borders into regional and international markets; and that government would support any such efforts geared at accessing new markets for products from Guyana. He however cautioned that there is need for Guyana businesses to comply with any regional procedures and processes and also work on and strengthen internal capacities to be competitive on the global stage.

Matters on the NACEN Agenda that engaged the participants included discussion of the outcomes from the Regular Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED); the implementation status of the CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union and the United Kingdom; updates on Guyana’s participation in the WTO Multilateral Agenda; an update on the CARICOM Agri-food Agenda; interest in new markets by some stakeholders, progress in the development of the CARICOM Industrial Policy and the establishment of CARICOM Local Content Regime Open-Ended Working Group which was mandated by CARICOM Heads of Government to discuss the regional local content regime.

Minister Todd in closing, called for increased and focused engagement with the private sector with a view to strengthening Guyana’s international trade policy for the furtherance of the country’s economic development.