GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana and Barbados are hoping that closer relationship with the state of Roraima in Brazil, will serve as a lucrative partner in the CARICOM effort to secure food security and significantly reduce the region’s multi-billion dollar food import bill.
President, Dr Irfaan Ali, (left) Governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium and Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, at their meeting in Boa Vista, Brazil (DPI Photo).President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley met with the Governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium last weekend after attending second Agri-Investment Forum and Expo 11 in Trinidad and Tobago.
“There are tremendous opportunities with Barbados added to this partnership. Right now, we are working on a Barbados, Guyana food terminal and we want to expand that to Roraima. So not only are we looking now at the two markets but as to how we can bring the private sector together from Barbados, Roraima and Guyana,” President Ali said.
He said this could result in a massive food logistic hub being created to support the huge traffic coming to the region, including the cruise line industry.
A government statement issued here quoted President Ali as noting the infrastructural development currently taking place in Guyana that will improve trade with the Roraima state.
He noted that with the involvement of Barbados, the goal of integrating the State of Roraima into CARICOM becomes closer to reality.
The statement quoted Ali as saying that Roraima is playing a role in the completion of the Linden to Lethem Road.
“So that we could have the complete link ready. We are already pursuing many international partners for the development of the deep-water port… they are some private sector interests also here and from the government, I know you are going through some special phase now in the country but we are ready to move this forward very quickly,” Ali said.
He said that Guyana and Brazil must continue to build and expand their commercial relationship.
“It is a natural outcome for both countries, a win-win situation… So what we are working on now is ensuring from an institutional, production, logistic and people-to-people perspective… we build the right infrastructure and the right ecosystem to support the sustainable development of this commercial relation beyond the boundaries of Guyana and Roraima,” President Ali said.
The statement quoted Prime Minister Mottley as underscoring the importance of the relationship between Roraima and CARICOM.
“Once we can open up Roraima’s opportunities as a land lock state in the rest of the world through Guyana and then through Barbados, we can have access to the wider markets. Barbados has 27 flights to the United Kingdom; we have flights during the winter season… We have daily flights to a number of cities in the United States,” she said.
“We feel that it is also a market from which we get sources produced to keep the cost of living down. As you know the freight cost coming from the north Atlantic countries and further has gone through the roof over the last two, three years because of the COVID pandemic,” Mottley added.
