President Jagdeo `pleased’ with Barbados
Guyana Chronicle
July 7, 2003
MONTEGO BAY - President Bharrat Jagdeo is returning home from Jamaica "very pleased" with bilateral meetings on Guyana's trade and other relations with CARICOM partners, particularly Barbados and Jamaica.
He told the Sunday Chronicle in a brief interview that he "invested some precious time" pursuing bilateral discussions of immediate importance to the needs of Guyana.
These included what he described as "a most promising outcome" for future relations with Barbados in areas of trade, fishing and immigration.
President Jagdeo said that his meeting with Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados was conducted within the framework of the Guyana-Barbados accord reached during last year's CARICOM Summit in Georgetown.
Separately, there have been discussions with Jamaica on Guyana's export of rice paddy to that CARICOM member state, an issue of much concern for Guyanese rice producers.
Also discussed in a multilateral context was the related and pressing question of a proposed 15 per cent hike in the Common External Tariff being sought by Guyana and other regional producers like Suriname and Belize.
President Jagdeo said he could not now give details of the agreements reached but there are to be further meetings shortly on both the sale of rice paddy to Jamaica and the 15 per cent increase in the CET for extra-regional imports of rice in order to ensure competitiveness for Guyanese and other Caribbean producers of this staple commodity.
He said he had good reasons to be "optimistic" on both issues as he was about progress with Barbados for a bilateral fisheries agreement and arrangements to deal with the problems too often faced by Guyanese on their arrival in that CARICOM member state. (Rickey Singh)