On January 15th, 2021, the Economic & Trade Affairs Officer and members of GCCI attended a meeting of importers organized by the Government Analyst Food & Drug Department (GA-FDD). Also attending the meeting were the Honourable Minister of Health – Dr. Frank Anthony, and Foreign Secretary – Mr. Robert Persaud. The aim of the meeting was to discuss issues related to imports from Florida, waivers, ASYCUDA system, etc. In a presentation given by Dr. Marlan Cole, Director of GA-FDD, he stated that the GA-FDD has a mandate to facilitate trade, protect consumers, issue licenses/certificates, carry out enforcement activity, and to conduct training and surveillance. The main topic of discussion was the non-acceptance of free sale certificates issued by Enterprise Florida. Dr. Cole, used a template of a model export certificate, to identify key elements of an export certificate and to highlight the disparities between the free sale certificate issued by Enterprise Florida and the model certificate. Dr. Cole further stated that the GA-FDD can only accept documents issued by the US-FDA because it can attest to a product being manufactured. 

The Honourable Dr. Frank Anthony expressed his desire for the importation of food to be safe. He announced that such meetings will be held regularly to have an interactive approach to problem solving. The Foreign Secretary added that the solution to these matters fell outside the scope of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. However, the Ministry will continue to strongly advocate for the removal of barriers to trade, as well as to ensure that consumers have access to quality products. He advised that transparent and participatory dialogue is needed to arrive at a resolution. In closing, Dr. Marlan Cole, pledged to continue working with importers to import food products into Guyana.