Guyanese Government to host public EPA consultations
Barbados Advocate | Tue Aug 12 2008
Guyanese Government to host public EPA consultations
WEEKS ago President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo announced his scepticism on signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) trade deal with the European Community (EC).
Now it has been revealed that the Guyanese government will be hosting public consultations on the proposed arrangement come the beginning of September.
President Jagdeo is the lone Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Head that expressed reluctance to sign the deal (the EPA) with the European Union and has long been highlighting his concerns that the agreement is flawed and needs to be re-examined. The President has stated that the deal could be a detriment to CARIFORUM countries and will allow for more benefits to go to Europe rather than to poor developing countries.
The signing of the final agreement for the EPA is now scheduled held around the same time as the date is now September 2.
The Guyanese Government’s consultations with citizens on the much-debated EPA will not be taking place until the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) has been concluded which slated to start on August 22. That event will continue for ten days.
This is according to Guyana’s Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon who made the disclosure today during his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President. The Cabinet Secretary had said previously that the consultations would have been held by the end of July.
Responding to queries by the Guyanese press on Monday as to whether the consultations at that latter stage would not be impeding on the deadline stipulated for the signing of the Agreement, the Cabinet Secretary said this would not matter, since Government is more committed to the consultations with Guyanese on the trade deal which it considers to be flawed, rather than on placing its signature on the agreement.
He had stated that it seemed as though the EU was bullying CARIFORUM countries to sign the agreement and he is against it since he is not looking at the short term benefits which some are considering losing, but rather at the long term repercussions the deal may have on CARIFORUM States.
Another CARICOM state, Grenada having just installed a new government has also expressed the need for a proper review of the accord.
That country’s Prime Minister, lawyer Tilman Thomas expressed this only Saturday. That one-month old government plans to delay signing the text of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) before it concludes "a proper review" of the accord.
