The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) yesterday said it does not support President Bharrat Jagdeo’s refusal to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU, saying his action at this stage when negotiations are complete only makes Guyana a laughing stock.

General Secretary Lincoln Lewis at a press conference yesterday when asked to comment on Guyana’s position said while he acknowledged that all agreements have their strengths and weaknesses, “no agreement was perfect until it is put to the test.”

Lewis said he read the agreement and noticed that it makes provisions for a six-month period for appeals. He stressed that there were many things that Guyana could do differently with its other produce other than just rice, sugar and rum, which stand to be the most affected if Guyana opted out of the agreement.

“Fighting the Europeans would not help the situation,” Lewis insisted. He posited too that Government has not seriously made any investment in the sugar industry for local sugar to really compete on the international market with high and substantial quotas as compared to many other countries.

Meanwhile, union executive member Norris Witter, commenting on Government’s attempt to consult with local stakeholders at the International Conference Centre at Liliendaal, said he felt it was unfair for comments to be disseminated that Jagdeo had the support of organized labour in his decision not to back the agreement.

“We will not associate with that, I think the whole consultancy thing was a bluff and it was grandstanding. If those consultations were so important as they made it out to be, why did it have to wait until after Carifesta?” he queried. Witter added that if the consultations were really worth it, the approach from government should have come over as more serious.  “We are not associating with monkey business,” Witter asserted.

October 15 has been set and agreed to by Caricom leaders for the signing of the EPA.
Guyana and Haiti were the holdouts at a pivotal meeting held in Barbados on September 10 on the  controversial regional trade deal with the European Community.   Jagdeo had made it clear that he   would only sign if forced to do so through the imposition of damaging tariffs on the country’s exports.

This was the President’s position at the December 7, 2007 meeting of Caricom Heads. Jagdeo has said that he would sign a goods-only agreement even if he had to “go it alone.”