A two-day Guyana consultation series on the CARIFORUM/EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on July 19 concluded with enhanced focus being placed on trade services, with reference to cross border supply of services and other issues.
Stakeholders during the Guyana consultation series on the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement
The forum, held at the Foreign Service Institute at Shiv Chanderpaul Drive in Georgetown, focused on positioning the region’s goods and services to tap into commercial and other opportunities within the EU market, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said. Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, while addressing stakeholders at the consultation, said that Heads of Government, following an EPA consultation, established an appropriate technical unit within the CARICOM Secretariat, not only to oversee the implementation of the EPA at the regional level, but to provide technical support to member states.
Cognizant of the potential threat EPA poses to the CARICOM regional integration arrangement and the imbalance between the development support and liberalisation demands of the EU, government has maintained its stance that the agreement must provide for the periodic overall review by the parties.
“The government of Guyana takes very seriously international agreements we sign, and the EPA is no different.
“Notwithstanding our reservations, we signed; and it was no surprise, therefore, that Guyana was among the first group of countries to put in place all the necessary legislative arrangements for the implementation of the agreement,” she said.
According to GINA, the consultation, which sought to strengthen the private/ public sector dialogue on trade issues, particularly the implementation of the EPA agreement, will pave the way not only for enhanced public awareness, but the political and technical input of civil society. While noting that the input of civil society and public participation are critical in the implementation process, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett said that this is an important aspect, since oftentimes there are challenges posed with respect to access to information on the strategic interest of the private sector and other non-state actors.
“There is also the issue of the ability to effectively communicate the implications of trade negotiations to stakeholders, as well as formulating policies which seek to balance government’s commitment and the interest of non-state actors… While there are institutional mechanisms in place for inter-agency coordination of trade policy issues, awareness seminars such as this one will go a far way to demystify technical jargons of trade negotiations,” she said.
The foreign minister added that the agreement, which will significantly impact CARICOM’s future with respect to negotiating free trade agreement, is, however, the most complex one negotiated by Guyana. On January 15, government implemented the EPA Tariff Schedule for goods, which saw the Customs Act being amended to include the EPA schedule of Tariff rates, allowing Guyana to fulfill its obligation.
In line with this, the Guyana Tariff Liberalisation Schedule was negotiated with a view to safeguarding local and regional production capacity; revenue sensitivity and employment through tariff exclusion.
“Imports from the EU account for approximately nine per cent of total imports.
“Similarly, customs revenue raised from EU imports is only a small share of total customs revenue — around 13 per cent,” she said. Minister Rodrigues-Birkett called for enhanced attention to be placed on the development of the services sector, since it will pave the way for increases in exports. This, she added, will only happen if the capacity of Guyanese service providers to access international markets is developed.
Often, the potential for expanding services exports is overlooked in national development planning due to inadequate statistics and a lack of familiarity with export activities of service firms. As such, the foreign minister said, there is need for Guyana to maximize on the opportunities for growth and development.
She added that to overcome the ‘invisibility’ of service industries, an immediate widespread awareness should be embarked upon, since the area is known as a significant job creation and foreign exchange earner. “We negotiate trade agreements because we want to open up greater access for our country’s export of goods and services, and to improve the opportunities for the growth and development of our business sector in trade and investments,” she indicated.
