Finance Minister calls on C’bean leaders to redouble efforts to remove trade barriers

As countries in the Caribbean continue to focus on how achieving sustainable and resilient economic growth across the region can be attained in light of their smallness in terms of economies of scale and their vulnerabilities to climate shocks, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh called on regional leaders to focus on redoubling efforts to ensure that the historical impediments affecting the free movement of goods and people across the region are removed.

The Minister made this call while leading an open floor discussion yesterday on ‘Building Food Resilience’ at the One Caribbean Ministerial Dialogue forum convened by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group and held under the theme “Building Resilience through Regional Collaboration,” in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Dr. Singh noted that while Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads adopted the objective of reducing the region’s food import bill by 25% by 2025 which has now been extended to 2030 (largely as a result of the shocks suffered over the last five years and the clear mandate in the region to reduce food imports by an estimated 4.6 million tons by 2030, to build a resilient, competitive and climate smart, resilient agri-food system which many countries have been focused on), there are still some remaining internal impediments including sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to intra-regional trade.

“In each of our respective countries, each of us has been investing in one aspect or another in pursuit of the objective of the realisation of our objectives in relation to food security. In the Bahamas investments are being made in the area of climate smart agriculture and the deployment of solar powered and hydroponic farms. In Belize, financial support is being provided for small farmers and projects targeting sugar, rice, maize and soyabean. Jamaica is making significant investments in cold storage and the supply chain and in areas like water management and crop shifting,” Minister Singh outlined.

He also highlighted that in Guyana heavy investments are being made in more climate resilient agriculture and in particular, drainage and irrigation infrastructure for better water resources management and a more climate resilient agricultural sector and therefore, the food security agenda is foremost amongst the priorities in Guyana and across the Caribbean with the objectives being to ramp up production and productive capacity.

“In Guyana’s case this includes transport infrastructure to open up more productive land, building out farm-to-market roads to be able to bring our production more efficiently to markets, building out agro-processing capabilities so that we are no longer an exporter of primary agricultural produce but that we produce more value-added output and in particular, unlocking the opportunities that lie in more intra-regional trade in agricultural products,” he added.

The Minister noted however that herein lies the issue in relation to transport infrastructure, particularly movement of goods across and within the region.

“There are still in some of our jurisdictions, some remaining regulations that impede free and easy trade in food products, in agricultural food products and I think there needs to be a redoubled effort within our region to remove these barriers,” he reiterated.

Dr. Singh emphasised that food security is not only a humanitarian necessity, it is a fundamental economic pillar for the Caribbean and further explained that notwithstanding the Region’s competitive agriculture advantages, there still remain significant vulnerabilities, including climate shocks as he then expressed deep appreciation for the IDB’s efforts through the One Caribbean initiative, nothing that the Bank’s support is vital for both public infrastructure and private sector growth, in achieving long-term economic resilience.

“Agriculture and agri-business as an important aspect of our productive economy and as an important contributor to job creation and the creation and enhancement and improvement and enhancement of livelihoods for young people in the region,” Minister Singh concluded.