The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat in collaboration with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) will hold a two-day training seminar for customs brokers on trading under the EPA.
According to a press release from Caricom, the training seminar, which starts today, follows one held on January 19 and 20 for thirty officers of the Customs and Trade Administration. The focus of both seminars is the trade in goods regime and the Rules of Origin under the EPA.
The facilitator is Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Implementation of the EPA and Head of the EPA Implementation Unit/Trade in Goods Specialist Branford Isaacs.
According to the press release, Senior Manager, Training, Development and Industrial Relations at the GRA Janet Abbensetts, described last week’s seminar as “well received”. She said the participants were “very engaged, and given the GRA’s role with respect to the smooth implementation of the Agreement, participants were particularly keen to take stock of the provisions dealing with tariff reductions and the Rules of Origin which will govern trade under the EPA”.
Abbensetts said it was expected that the customs brokers would also be “enthusiastic” about having a better understanding of the EPA, since their job requires having a sound understanding of the customs-related areas of it.
Caricom said government had requested Isaac’s involvement as a facilitator, and this was in keeping with the EPA Implementation Unit’s expressed commitment to provide assistance to Cariforum states in their efforts at implementation of the Cariforum-EU EPA.
Importers and exporters are among the stakeholders that have been identified to benefit from future training programmes.
