Guyana is not going to agree to the European Union’s contention that this country’s sugar products, or those originating in one Cariforum country and processed or refined in another, are not eligible for preferences in Europe under the rules of origin.
In a brief interaction with the media during a break in the 12th Special Caricom Heads of Government Meeting which took place at Liliendaal, Georgetown on Friday, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the EU’s action “flies in the face of production coordination and it flies in the face of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.”
He said that the EU’s intent also flies in the face of regional integration, “which the European Union has accepted and supported through financial mechanisms.”
“It is totally unacceptable to us that they would not accept cumulation for the purposes of defining the origin of a product and qualifying for preferences in Europe. We do not find that acceptable. So we made it clear to the negotiators that we are not going to agree to this,” he said.
Asked about negotiations pertaining to sugar in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Jagdeo said that a few countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping have already signed on to sugar arrangements so that weakens the position of Guyana and the Caribbean.
Nevertheless, he said the Heads discussed some provisions and made some changes to those which they had hoped would have informed the discussions over the next few weeks. When asked what the provisions were in relation to sugar he did not elaborate.
Double standards
Jagdeo also expressed concern that the EU does not want Cariforum countries to send sugar into the French overseas territories (DOMs) of Martinique and Guadeloupe for the next 15 years. And at the same time they do not want the Cariforum countries to reciprocate as in the case of installing similar safeguards to protect sugar or bananas entering Cariforum countries from the DOMs.
“They find that it is okay to protect their territories that are not based in Europe – the double standards for safeguards
