Two-way merchandise trade between Guyana and Canada amounted to CAD$238.2 million last year, Canada’s Minister of International Trade Mary Ng told the News Room in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Ng was in Guyana primarily to launch a three-day trade mission with the aim of expanding business relations.
She spoke to the News Room from the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence in Georgetown moments after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Guyana Government which will pave the way for greater economic cooperation and commercial relations between the two nations.
The Canadian High Commission in Georgetown on Thursday offered more details on the trade figure released by the Minister of International Trade.
It details those imports from Canada to Guyana totalled CAD$38.6 million, an increase of 31.1 per cent from 2020. Exports were led by consumer goods which accounted for 24.7 per cent of exports to Guyana.
Exports from Guyana to Canada reached CAD$199.6 million, a decrease of 52.2 per cent from 2020. Imports were led by metal ores and non-metallic minerals which accounted for 70.0 per cent of imports from Guyana.
Canada says the main exports from Guyana to Canada included consumer goods; industrial machinery, equipment and parts; farm, fishing and intermediate food products; forestry products, building and packaging materials along with metal and non-metallic mineral products.
On the flip side, exports from Guyana to Canada were metal ores and non-metallic minerals; metal and non-metallic mineral products; consumer goods; farm, fishing, and intermediate food products along with forestry products and building and packaging materials.
Canada has a large presence in the extractive sector in Guyana, a reality that Minister Ng acknowledged.
“Canada has strength in the mining industry and I know they have a real presence here in Guyana.”
She said with monies set aside in Canada’s 2022 federal budget for significant investment in critical minerals; it will help countries like Guyana to take advantage of Canada’s expertise.
“Also, the expertise, the technology, the innovation that is coming with also greening those industries and I think there are opportunities.
Guyana Goldfields and Sandspring Resources are two Canadian-listed companies with advanced-stage gold projects here. Others include Goldsource Mines Inc and Gold X Corp.
“In my meeting with President Ali, we talked about creating the opportunities and right conditions for investors and businesses to be in each other’s market,” the Canadian Minister told the News Room.
The hybrid trade mission wraps up today where some 170 Canadian companies and investors are scoping out investment opportunities and are looking to expand their operations to Guyana and the wider Caribbean.
There are an estimated 200, 000 Guyanese living in Canada.
