‘Pressure’ leaders to remove trade barriers – President Ali urges Caribbean people

The incumbent Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali, wants the region’s citizens to pressure their leaders into removing trade barriers that have long constrained greater regional food security efforts.

Doing so, he reasoned, will help the region to produce more food, increase intra-regional trade and cut out expensive food imports from outside the Caribbean.

Dr. Ali spoke at the opening ceremony of the 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government of CARICOM, hosted on Sunday at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown.

“We are continuing work the remove trade barriers within member states and the people of CARICOM must put pressure on the leaders to remove the trade barriers.

“People of this region, call on your leaders to remove these barriers,” President Ali, who also has the lead responsibility for food security within CARICOM, ” emphasised.

Trade barriers include non-tariff barriers such as quotas, embargoes, sanctions and levies and affects some exports to CARICOM markets. Guyanese private sector players are among those who lament how such barriers affect intra-regional trade.

ELIMINATING HUNGER

Removing trade barriers is part of the Guyana-led plan of slashing CARICOM’s hefty food import bill by 25% by 2025. Guyana believes that countries can spend less importing food if they produce more food themselves and trade more in the region.

But President Ali on Sunday disclosed that the region is now looking beyond that 2025 goal. CARICOM is now hoping to eliminate hunger by 2030.

CARICOM, Dr. Ali said, is partnering with many global partners- from Saudi Arabia to Canada- to help Caribbean countries make their food production systems more resilient. Those partners, he said, are funding food production ventures with a focus on getting more women and youth involved in agriculture.