The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said it has as a priority, the advocacy of the free movement of cargo across countries.
Chief of Economic Regulatory Framework of the IACO, Peter Alawani said the movement of air cargo, including agriculture, remains a regulatory impediment, businesses around the world have to contend with when seeking to export their products to foreign countries, the Department of Public Information (DPI) has reported.
Alawani was part of a three-member panel discussion on Monday at the Umana Yana, that specifically addressed the upcoming ICAO Air Transport Conference, to be held for the first time in Guyana between November 19 and 23 later this year.
According to Alawani, the ICAO has identified a major problem relating to the movement of air cargo, which also includes agricultural products and found that there are several regulatory impediments in many countries.
According to DPI, he was responding to a question from the audience, about the level of Guyana’s potential to provide agriculture produce to the Caribbean and to a wider extent the rest of the world. It was pointed out that systems should be put in place to expand especially the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) to facilitate the exportation of agriculture products.
While agreeing with the point raised, Alawani said aviation is one of the most regulated industries. “Even where you have the produce, you still need agreements among states in order to transport the goods,” he said.
One of the subjects that will be addressed at the ICAO conference later this year, is the removal of all of those regulatory impediments to the extent that there can be a liberalisation of air cargo. This will see the free movement of goods and cargo, not just the region, but all around the world, the ICAO representative said.
Speaking to the issue as well, was Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Egbert Field. He said with the extension of the runway at the CJIA, Guyana will definitely be able to play an extremely larger role in the transportation of agricultural cargo.
Field expressed his belief that can Guyana become the food basket of the Caribbean with regards to moving agricultural cargo to the rest of the Caribbean and by extension, the rest of the world, DPI said.
