By Staff Writer
While CARICOM nations such as Guyana may have the capacity to produce much of the food that its sister countries import, it would face significant logistical blockades if it pursues interregional exports thus leaving the Caribbean in a never-ending cycle of high import bills.
In an effort to address this state of affairs, a CARICOM Ministerial Taskforce established last year and chaired by Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, has moved to resuscitate a Regional Transportation Commission.
Guyana Standard understands that the taskforce agreed at one of its sessions in 2021 that there was an urgent need to address transportation and logistics considerations hindering trade in the context of efforts to advance the CARICOM Agri-Food Systems Agenda. It was on this premise that the group resuscitated the Regional Transportation Commission (RTRC).
At the level of the MTF, Mustapha said on Friday that significant progress has been made to have this commission resuscitated with heavy policy emphasis being placed on the delivery of adequate, competitive, efficient transportation services at affordable costs along with the sustainability of same.
Additionally, the commission will also focus on creating an interconnected, multi-modal, accessible transportation network that actively contributes to the strengthening of the economic development of the community through trade and the movement of people, as well as, strengthening and enhancing the regulatory organizations and institutions of the transportation sector of the community.
