T&T, Guyana join forces to help reduce food import bills

This, according to leaders of both countries – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Guyana President Dr Irfaan Ali.

The two were speaking at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s yesterday, after Ali participated in a wreath-laying ceremony in Memorial Park, Port-of-Spain.

As they announced the joint initiative, both were asked just how much this programme would assist in reducing food imports for their respective countries.

“You will be shocked to see the level of work and planning that has already taken place,” Ali said.

PM Rowley chimed in, “One word can cover that…we can significantly positively impact not just supply chain but our affordability and our cost.”

Ali said the efforts made to achieve this goal will be revealed in a report presented at the Agri Investment Forum, which begins today (Friday) at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Ali said both countries would not be shying away from the commitment, which was also made by other CARICOM countries, to reduce their food import bills by 25 per cent by 2025.

“Make no mistake, we don’t have the luxury of time to advance this issue of food security. Food security is not only important from a price perspective, as Prime Minister Rowley rightly said, you can have the money but you don’t have the food,” Ali said.

He said there were empty supermarket shelves in many developed countries caused by two major factors – the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Rowley said with these two major factors affecting food availability and food security around the globe, the two governments recognised the critical situation their countries could be in if, as predicted, these supply chain issues keep recurring.

“Disrupting the current comfort zones of the models of relying on imported foods and emphasising to a population that our meals must now be based on eating what we can produce and growing what we eat, that is the model that we have to follow,” the PM said.

Rowley provided details of the areas being targeted in this programme, which include agriculture, rice, human resources, agro-processing, livestock, shade houses and coconut project, a technical task force, corn and soya.

Rowley said a commitment was made by his Cabinet in July to ensure that these areas of concern are addressed in the Guyana/T&T collaboration.

He said the private sector was also being encouraged to participate in this initiative.

The work of the task force will make it easier for private sector investors to become involved in this programme, Ali said.

“Part of their responsibility is to work on the removal of all non-tariff barriers. We already have a complete list of all the non-tariff barriers and you will see the potential that exists,” Ali said.

Rowley said imports from CARICOM countries were often blocked, sometimes by the whim and fancy of customs officers or for fear of disease or contamination from the exporting country.

Ali said the task force was creating a standardised list that will allow for goods to be imported and exported with much greater ease.

“We are now saying loudly that we recognise there are systemic problems and we have to solve those systemic problems and we are committing ourselves to the resolution of those systemic problems through this task force,” Ali said.

He said the collaboration was not only about food production and getting more people involved in agriculture.

“It is ensuring we develop and have the right policy framework in place to support the investment we’re going to make to support local farmers, to support the regional trade system, to support the logistics, logistics hub and logistics framework that must be developed to advance our plans and food security,” Ali said.

Both countries have also been discussing tourism and, in partnership with Suriname, energy.

Ali said the respective Tourism Ministers will be meeting before his delegation returns to Guyana, as Rowley revealed some details about the energy discussions.

“We took a decision this morning that our technical people in energy both from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, incidentally, would meet or continue to meet but meet specifically, and by this, by the end of September, will produce for us a document with recommendations to be considered by these three governments in the context of our collaboration with the United States on this whole issue of regional energy security,” Rowley said. (Trinidad & Tobago Guardian)