Guyana and Trinidad Build a Trade Desk to Unblock Honey and Peppers

Trade

Guyana Trinidad trade has run for half a century inside a common market that was supposed to make trade easy. It is still hard enough that the two countries’ business lobbies have now built an institution whose only job is to write down what is blocking the honey.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Trinidadian counterpart signed a memorandum on the eighth of July committing to a joint trade desk. They expect it running within three months.

The desk will take complaints from businesses, sort them, and decide whether each obstacle needs private pressure or a change in the law. A joint working group will then chase the resolution and record whether it actually happened.

That last clause is the interesting one. Regional trade diplomacy in the Caribbean has rarely suffered from a shortage of communiqués; it has suffered from nobody keeping score.

What actually blocks Guyana Trinidad trade

A tariff is a tax at the border and it is visible. A non-tariff barrier is everything else, and it is not.

It is the licence that never comes, the health certificate the importing country will not recognise, the standard written so that only a domestic producer can meet it. The goods never get taxed because they never arrive.

The chambers named the goods getting early attention, and they are unglamorous: honey, pineapples, peppers. These are the exports of small farmers, which is precisely why they have gone unfixed for years.

Both countries are founding members of the Caribbean Community, established in 1973 and headquartered in Georgetown. A common market has existed on paper ever since.

Why the timing is not an accident

Guyana is about to stop being only an exporter of crude. Its Gas-to-Energy project is meant to cut the cost of electricity by half, and a manufacturing zone is rising at Wales on the west bank of the Demerara.

Kathy Smith, who leads the Georgetown chamber, put the logic plainly. With power costs falling and the Wales zone taking shape, she said, the country is expanding manufacturing from agro-processing to value-added production, and balance in market access becomes crucial.

Read that as a warning as much as a boast. Cheap power would make Guyana a competitor in the kind of light manufacturing its gas-rich neighbour has long supplied.

A country that is about to make things needs somewhere to sell them. The nearest market of any size is the one where its peppers still meet a closed door.

An institution built to outlive its founders

Karen Yip Chuck, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, framed the desk as a hedge against political memory. Businesses require a permanent mechanism providing continuity, accountability and measurable outcomes, she said.

She noted that earlier cooperation between the two chambers had already settled several commercial disputes and produced a documented inventory of the barriers still outstanding. The desk is meant to make that list permanent rather than personal.

This is a private-sector body doing what governments have not. The chambers will also work together on business intelligence, investment promotion and research, then put evidence-based recommendations to their two governments.

It follows a separate agreement signed earlier this year between the Georgetown chamber and Trinidad’s Energy Chamber, covering the oil and gas supply chain. The head of that body, Priya Marajh, described the aim as mutual: success in one country creating openings in the other.

What Guyana Trinidad trade tells a foreign investor

Two energy economies sit at either end of this arrangement, and they are at opposite stages of life. Trinidad built its industry on natural gas over decades, and its chamber now speaks of trade ties as a two-way hedge.

Guyana pumps more than nine hundred thousand barrels of crude a day and banked almost two billion dollars of oil money in six months. One is trying to hold on to an industrial base, the other to build one.

Whether a trade desk can move that is an open question, and the honest answer is that a memorandum is not a result. The measurable thing is the list, and whether items ever come off it.

Watch for the first barrier formally cleared, and the date it happened. That will say more about the future of Caribbean integration than any summit communiqué issued this year.

What is a non-tariff barrier?

It is any obstacle to importing a good that is not a tax at the border. Licensing delays, unrecognised health certificates and product standards written to favour domestic producers all qualify, and they can block trade completely even where the tariff rate is zero.

Who signed the agreement and when?

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding on the eighth of July 2026. Their presidents are Kathy Smith and Karen Yip Chuck respectively.

Which goods are affected first?

The chambers said early attention would go to long-standing restrictions on Guyanese agricultural exports, naming honey, pineapples and peppers. They intend to prioritise the commercially most significant cases and take regulatory questions to the relevant government agencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the Georgetown and Trinidad chambers of commerce agree to on July 8?

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Trinidadian counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint trade desk. The desk will take complaints from businesses, sort them, and decide whether each obstacle requires private pressure or a change in the law.

How long will it take for the joint trade desk to become operational?

Officials expect the desk to be operational within three months of the memorandum being signed on July 8. A joint working group will chase resolutions and record whether they actually happened.

What specific goods and trade barriers is the joint trade desk focused on?

The desk is targeting non-tariff barriers, meaning the paperwork and standards rules that block goods even where no tariff applies. Early attention will go to Guyanese honey, pineapples, and peppers, which have long been restricted in the Trinidadian market.