More can be done for Partial Scope Agreement- Minister Greenidge

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge said Guyana can do much more in the area of trade with neighboring country Brazil, as the two South American nations continue with the Partial Scope Agreement.

Minister Greenidge was speaking to the media on Wednesday when he noted that Guyana needs to widen its range of products that can be exported competitively.

“That is part of the reality. If you look around the range of products that are exported, they are far too limited and that is where the major constraint arises,” Minister Greenidge said.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no responsibility in that regard, it is, in fact, responsible for dialogue and works toward systems that can bolster investment in the country.

“You have to diversify, you have to find new products, you have to move up the value chain. You just can’t be producing paddy and rice and selling it abroad.  So, work has to be done in the agriculture sector and in processing to find products that command higher prices and in which wider margins are associated,” the Minister said.

He said both the Governments and Private Sectors of Guyana and Brazil have been engaged in dialogue, seeking to widen the range of products that could be sold to Brazil under the arrangement.

Under the Partial Scope Agreement, Guyana can sell among other things, red peppers, bottled rum, copra fruits and vegetables, calcined bauxite, PVC pipes, corrugated cardboard, and alu-zinc sheets. Brazil is welcomed to sell machinery parts, building materials, agro-based products, pastas noodles jams, jellies, rum and spirits, and pharmaceuticals.

By: Alexis Rodney

-for more photographs go to dpi flickr