| – PPP denies claim, PM has evidenceBy Kiana WilburgWith the sugar industry being up to its neck in debt and performing poorly over the years, the recent news that the booming rice could be poised for a very troubling future, has left many in the new government worried. It has essentially forced them to redouble their efforts to find corrective measures as quickly as possible.Prime Minister,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping,Moses NagamootooGovernment has however vowed that everything will be done to ensure that hundreds of farmers are not made to suffer due to the turn of events set to take full effect later this year.Finance Minister Winston Jordan told this newspaper in an interview that during his recent visit to Venezuela, he was told in no uncertain terms that that country will no longer be interested in renewing the oil for rice barter under the PetroCaribe deal which will come to an end on November 16, next.He said that Guyana was told to find new markets for its rice.Venezuela’s decision regarding the rice deal comes at a time when it is claiming sovereignty over Guyana’s waters,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, since the significant oil find by American oil giant, ExxonMobil just 100 miles off of the Stabroek Block.The issue is one which has seen the Government displaying complete resistance to Venezuela’s declaration and even its rhetoric over the past few weeks.Jordan had said that Venezuela claimed it had hinted to the past administration as well as to top officials in the Guyana Rice and Development Board that Guyana needs to start looking at other markets.Based on records over the past two to three years, Jordan said that it would show that Venezuela was scaling back on the volume of rice it was taking from Guyana.Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo also took to social media to voice his opinion on the topic.On his Facebook profile, the First Vice President also said that there is documentary evidence that Venezuela’s decision was communicated to former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Guyana’s Ambassador in Caracas, Geoffrey Da Silva.The Prime Minister said, “It is sad and inexcusable that the Guyanese people were not advised of this by the former PPP government. Questions will now have to be asked as to whether the Guyanese people, and the thousands of rice farmers in particular who could be affected, were being held hostage by the PPP’s silence purely for the purposes of narrow politicking.”He said, too, that it will have to be considered whether Venezuela’s position of the non-renewal of the PetroCaribe barter agreement is indeed an act of economic sanction against Guyana.Nagamootoo said that “government will explore fully, all options to ensure that farmers and those dependent on Guyana’s rice industry are not adversely affected.”The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic, is however, denying completely that it hid this information from the Guyanese populace. It is now blaming the Granger-led administration for Venezuela’s decision to not renew the barter arrangement.In a missive to the media last night, the opposition party said that it noted Nagamootoo’s “absurd accusation” that the PPP/C was aware of the imminent collapse of the deal and failed to inform the Guyanese public, “implying that the PPP/C is somehow responsible for this state of affairs.”The Party said that what the Prime Minister does not want to admit is that the non-renewal of the rice agreement has to do with the rapid deterioration of relations between Guyana and Venezuela since the Granger administration assumed office.The Party said that it has always held firm to the 1899 Arbitral Award which definitively settled Guyana’s border with Venezuela and has always received the support from CARICOM and the Commonwealth on this matter.It opined however, that controversies and disagreements cannot be resolved through belligerence or name-calling. In this regard, it referred to comments made by President David Granger referring to Venezuela as the “monkey” on Guyana’s back.The party added, “ The Granger administration appears to eschew dialogue and this is evidenced by Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge saying to the President of Venezuela “go talk with CARICOM” while only days before announcing that his Government will send a team to Venezuela to negotiate a long term rice agreement. This is some kind of distorted diplomacy which was bound to yield the result now realized.”Notwithstanding its views on the manner, in which the Granger administration is handling the territorial controversy, the PPP/C sought to make pellucid that on every occasion that a new rice agreement was signed, the Venezuelan Government informed that it could not guarantee an agreement for the next year as that country, too, was developing its rice industry.In spite of this, the PPP/C said that on every single occasion it was able to negotiate a new agreement with generous terms and conditions while it looked for additional markets during its time in office.“Indeed the last agreement was signed during the period when the PPP/C had announced that it was no longer interested in pursuing the UN Good Officer process and will be reviewing the other options under the Geneva Agreement – a position the Venezuelan Government did not support…”“Let it be clear that the information provided when the 2015 agreement was signed, with respect to no guarantee for a new agreement was nothing new, and there was even agreement to continue discussions,China Jerseys Wholesale, as was done in the past. Why those discussions did not continue is anyone’s guess. What is sure is that the responsibility for the collapse of the rice agreement lies squarely with the de facto Government.”While Venezuela is resolute on cancelling its barter agreement with Guyana, the oil-rich country has however, entered into new rice deals with rice-producing giants like Uruguay.The South American country has agreed to provide Venezuela with 120,000 tonnes of rice by the end of this year. This deal was struck so that Uruguay can clear its US$400M debt it accumulated from taking Venezuela’s oil at concessionary prices.According to El Pais,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, a leading newspaper in Colombia, this is the first time that the Government of Uruguay has participated in a rice export agreement which will be signed officially on July 17.Finance Minister Jordan had said that Venezuela claims that its decision to not renew the rice deal after November is mainly because it has secured rice shipments from Suriname and has enough local production to satisfy its domestic demand.But Venezuela is not cutting Guyana off entirely. Jordan had said that the Spanish-speaking country indicated “interest” in buying Guyana’s rice next year, but a very modest amount to support its buffer stocks.He said that Venezuela even communicated “interest” on entering into a joint venture agreement with Guyana to pursue rice markets together.He had said that Venezuela is proposing to establish an office within its borders and Guyana would take its shipment to its port. The rice would then be shipped from there to countries with which Venezuela has good relations, such as Iran, a huge consumer of rice.Jordan had said that while both initiatives are far from being set in stone, Venezuela has agreed to receive a high level team from Guyana to discuss both options. Though Venezuela was successful in striking more beneficial rice agreements with other countries, including one of Guyana’s CARICOM sisters, it has expressed “interest” in other products Guyana may have to offer.With the rice for oil agreement set to come to an end later this year, the Finance Minister said that he is not too worried about writing off the debt incurred.He had said, “Under the PetroCaribe deal, Guyana gets oil from Venezuela at very concessionary prices. We receive the oil, pay for half upfront and the other part is paid off within several years. But at the same time we are accumulating debt. So, to write off the debt, rice was agreed to be used under the PetroCaribe agreement…”The Finance Minister continued,Cheap NFL Jerseys, “Had Guyana not been bartering with rice, our debt would have been between US$500 to US$700m. Now it stands at US$190M. By the time the agreement is ended in November, that debt would decrease, but after November it would increase again, because we will continue to benefit from the oil at concessionary prices but we won’t have rice to write-off the debt like we used to.”With this new development,Jerseys NFL China, Jordan said that it becomes even more imperative for Government to redouble its efforts to locate new markets for Guyana’s rice as quickly as possible.Jordan asserted that farmers for some time have been responding to Venezuela’s “concessionary price” and will have to adjust to suit new times ahead. |
