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9/13/11 (AEIN) Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo spoke at the China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Trinidad and Tobago, the Government Information Agency reported on Monday. He called for Caribbean countries to increase exports to China.
The Guyanese leader stated that China-Caribbean trade increased by one-hundred times between 1995 and 2008, rising from $20,000,000 dollars to two billion. However, he pointed out that most of this trade has involved the purchase of Chinese goods by nations in the Caribbean region, with relatively few Caribbean products exported.
President Jagdeo also described various advantages of trading with Caribbean countries and said that expanding trade with Russia, China, India and Brazil proves very important to the successful development of economies in the region. He expressed the view that Caribbean nations "have warmly embraced" China's advance as a world power.
The Finance Minister of Guyana and the Commerce Minister of China signed a 30 million renminbi grant agreement at the forum. President Jagdeo pointed to the importance of loans and grants from China in his speech, saying they provide more favorable terms to developing countries than assistance from the IMF or World Bank.
Guyana is a country in far northern South America with a coast on the Caribbean. It is nearly as large as the U.S. state of Idaho and has a tropical climate. President Jagdeo was elected in 1999, according to The World Almanac. Guyanese exports include gold and bauxite.