MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE FACT SHEET GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA

TRADE AND ECONOMIC AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------On 24th February 2006, the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Guyana signed an Agreement between the two

countries to develop and strengthen the economic and trade relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. It

was through this agreement that Guyana and Argentina agreed to take all appropriate measures to promote trade

and economic cooperation in order to reduce and eventually eliminate obstacles to trade.

KEY PROVISIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT

Trade between the two countries shall be carried out in keeping with the laws, contracts and other

regulations of each country

Bilateral trade in services shall be carried out by both countries within the World Trade

Organization (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services which states that (a) services can

be traded in four ways based on modes of supply:

o Consumption abroad of service by consumers travelling to supplier country (e.g. students studying

abroad);

o Cross border supply of a service to consumer country without the supplier (e.g. open and distance

education);

o Commercial presence of a supplier in consumer country (e.g. offshore foreign universities);

o Presence of Natural Persons from supplying country in consuming country (e.g. professors,

researcher working outside their home country)

WHAT HAS THE AGREEMENT DELIVERED TO DATE?

According to the WTO, the prices paid for goods anywhere in the world are affected by trade policies.

Protectionism is expensive as it raises prices. Free trade and trade agreements generally promote access to cheaper goods

as a result of imports as well as the competition is creates. Guyanese have been benefiting in this regard. Imports from

Argentina have given Guyanese more choice and a broader range of qualities to choose from. Notably, Guyanese producers

and consumers have benefited from the importation of higher-quality finished products as well as raw materials which are

either not produced locally or are very expensive due to high cost of production.

General Rules - Most

Favoured Nation Treatment

(MFN):

MFN means that countries must

give equal and consistent

treatment to all foreign trading

partners

Rules for national

commitments

Market Access:

There are 6 ways of limiting

free market access. These

limitations may not be applied

unless their use is clearly

provided for in the schedule of

commitments. These limitations

include: limitations on the

number of service suppliers,

limitations on the value of

transactions, service operations

or employees in the sector.

National Treatment:

This means equal treatment for

foreign and domestic services

or service suppliers

Argentina is regarded as the best point of entry to Mercosur, which is a regional common market composed of Argentina, Brazil , Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Through

Mercosur, Argentina provides access to a market of 226 million inhabitants with a GDP that represents more than 40 percent of Latin America’s total GDP. Tariffs and other non-

tariff restrictions between member states are standard and convenient: there is free movement of capital, services and people.

These can be traded under general rules (which apply, for the most part, to trade in all services) or

rules applicable to national commitments in specific service sectors:

Payment for transactions between the two countries can be made in any freely convertible

currency though other payment arrangements can be made

The two countries shall encourage their local enterprises to develop trade and economic

cooperation and establish the conditions to enable such cooperation

Guyana and Argentina shall conduct visits or trade fairs for the purpose of commerce and

trade

The two countries have agreed that the following goods will be exempted from customs duties,

taxes and other similar charges:

o Samples and goods of no commercial value and advertising material;

o Objects and goods temporarily imported for fairs and exhibitions provided that they are not to

be sold;

o Equipment for scientific tests and research.

MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE FACT SHEET GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA

In the year 2017, Guyana imported products

valued at US $9, 827,287. This represents an

increase of 387 % from

the $ 2,038.131 value in

2016. In addition to the

items listed on the charts

above, Guyana also

imports medicaments, cleaning products,

machinery and parts thereof, beverages,

canned foods, pipes and pipe fittings and

vehicle parts from Argentina.

The chart above shows the top five (5) products that have been imported by Guyana from

Argentina between January to December of 2016. In 2016, Guyana imported products from the

Argentine Republic valued a total of USD $2,038,131 or GYD $420, 874, 149. There were NO Exports from

Guyana to Argentina.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR GUYANESE BUSINESSES

Argentina is a massive South American nation with a population of 43.85 million (2016). GDP per capita is estimated at US

$12,449.22. Argentina imports approximately US$59.5 billion worth of goods making it the 45th largest importer in the

world. Main imports include vehicle and vehicle parts, petroleum gas, medicaments, pesticides, inter alia. Its top imports are

Petroleum Gas ($3.35B), Cars ($3.33B), Vehicle Parts ($2.84B), Telephones ($2.83B) and Refined Petroleum ($2.13B).Apart

from gases and capital items, Argentina also imports a numbers of products which Guyana currently produces and can supply.

These include leather footwear, paper, bananas, vitamins, pesticides, cleaning products, plywood, beauty products, plastic

pipes, fruit, spices, rice, dried vegetables, pepper, inter alia.

There are a number of small businesses and agro-processors who produce the aforementioned

products and can therefore capitalize on the demand capacity of the Argentine market via this

existing trade and economic agreement especially since this opportunity has been largely untapped

and there is significant potential.

$0

$50,000,000

$100,000,000

$150,000,000

$200,000,000

$250,000,000

OtherVegetable

Oil

Soya BeanOil (other

than crude)

OtherVegetable

Oil

Detergents Palm Oil

$200,338,782

$153,850,124

$13,599,864 $8,091,335 $6,878,867

TOP IMPORTS FROM ARGENTINA (JAN - DEC 2017)

Imports

The chart above shows the top five (5) products that have been imported by Guyana from Argentina

between January to December of 2015. In 2015, Guyana imported products from the Argentine Republic

valued a total of USD $2,960,407. There were NO Exports from Guyana to Argentina.

Brief