Guyana to draw from EU €500M payout to ACP states

Guyana is among 18 former Sugar Protocol Countries which fall under the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) that will benefit from a second tranche of €500 million to be disbursed from the European Union, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said yesterday.

“In our capacity as chair of the ACP, Guyana has been instrumental in the conclusion of negotiations with the European Union to secure a second tranche of €500 million for the 18 former Sugar Protocol Countries.

And this will go from 2011 to 2013,” the minister said. It has not been determined how much of this money Guyana will receive. Guyana assumed the chairmanship of the ACP from the first of this month.

The minister said too that as chair of the ACP consultancy group on sugar, a study has been commissioned to look at the how the loss of preferential treatment for ACP exports to Europe has been affecting countries in Latin America.