The longstanding ban on Guyana’s catfish exports to the USA is transferring nearer to being lifted, based on U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot.
The export restriction, which has been in place since 2017, severely impacted Guyanese exporters. The ban adopted new protocols established by the U.S. in 2016, with a transitional interval given for compliance. Nevertheless, Guyana’s incapacity to fulfill the up to date necessities resulted within the ban. Earlier than its implementation, catfish exports from Guyana to the U.S. had been valued at roughly $1.8 billion yearly.
Talking at a ceremony for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Authorities of Guyana and U.S. firm Blumberg Grains, Ambassador Theriot mentioned the 2 nations are working carefully to elevate the restriction.
“The necessities for importing catfish and far seafood into the USA grew to become rather more stringent fairly a number of years in the past, and so Guyana needed to requalify,” Theriot defined. “Guyana has taken each step we’ve requested of them. It’s a protracted course of — they submit responses to our questions, we ask extra questions — however I can let you know that it’s going very effectively.”
For the reason that ban, a number of rounds of diplomatic discussions have taken place between Guyana and the USA in efforts to resolve the problem. Theriot expressed optimism in regards to the consequence.
“Guyana has been extremely responsive. I’m very, very hopeful that we’ll have this resolved quickly and that will probably be a optimistic response,” the Ambassador mentioned.
In the meantime, Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha affirmed that the nation has met all mandatory U.S. requirements and burdened the financial advantages of lifting the ban.
“I hope very shortly we will have the ban lifted so Guyana can as soon as once more export catfish to the US,” the Minister mentioned.
