Jagdeo

GEORGETOWN, Guyana

Guyana's main opposition, the People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) has distanced itself from President Bharrat Jagdeo's repudiation of a trade pact between Caribbean countries and Europe and says it will ignore Jagdeo's call for a meeting with his opponents to discuss the agreement.

" ... The PNCR is at a loss to determine what purpose the briefing would serve, given that President Jagdeo's many pronouncements, on the EPA, are now in the public domain," the party said in a statement.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) members, plus the Dominican Republic, last December finalised the so-called Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) , a reciprocal free trade pact that will be implemented over the next 15 years.

Bankable assurances

But regional intellectual has criticised the agreement, saying that regional negotiators gave away too much without bankable assurances from Europe for economic support to prepare the region for competition.

Jagdeo has said that his government is willing to sign that portion of the arrangement, dealing only with trade in goods, leaving out areas such as services, procurement and the arrangements under which the Caribbean can offer "third" countries most favoured nation (MFN) status.

However, at a special summit in Barbados last week, other CARICOM members, including some that were sceptical about the deal, said they were prepared to sign the EPA next month.

"The party recognises that the EPA is not a perfect agreement. In fact, it concedes that there are deficiencies in the EPA. However, the PNCR also recognises the many positive aspects of the EPA, as well as its potential for aiding Guyana's trade and development," the statement said.

Reservations

It added: "While the PNCR can see merit in some of the arguments advanced by President Bharrat Jagdeo, it has strong reservations about the timing of those arguments. The party believes that it would be useful to spend some time ventilating these issues."

The PNCR said that Jagdeo had failed to mobilise all the relevant stakeholders, as part of his opposition to the accord "and the upshot is that the President appears to have operated as if he alone is the custodian of the interests of the nation".

- CMC, Gleaner reports