Barbadians are being urged to take advantage of the emerging trade opportunities with Guyana in the area of agriculture, as the region continues to battle supply chain issues and continued price increases.Representative for the Guyana Office for Investment, Gavin Bovell told Barbados TODAY that with unabated price increases threatening the region’s food and nutrition security, it was not the time for complacency.Bovell said there were also opportunities for Barbadians and Guyanese to partner in several business ventures across agriculture and manufacturing.“We need to be able to sustain ourselves. We are small island developing states and we are vulnerable to climate change and global economic shocks because of how much we import and how much we depend on the international visitor,” he said.“We have also recognised that we have our own capabilities within our neighbourhood, so how can we leverage our capabilities to become more resilient? Because we are not going to get rid of the external shocks. They are going to continue to happen. These supply chain challenges and disruptions are not going to stop; we have to develop the competencies to become more resilient and we need to have more visibility.”Bovell, a university lecturer in logistics and supply chain management, pointed to several opportunities that are now ripe for the picking, in light of the recent signing of the St Barnabas Accord, which speaks to cooperation between Barbados and Guyana in several areas.
