Not surprised at all, all part of Venezuela strategy to squeeze Guyana balls.

Venezuela is a bully.  They are reeeling from international shame after President Granger exposed them well and proper.

So what - ONE door closed and 10 will open, so FRUCK OFF Venezuela.

Surprised at Suriname - always the rotten rope.  Guyana is surrounded by enemies except for Brazil.

Wicked people and covetious people

Speaking to Guyana Times on Wednesday, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said that during the PetroCaribe Ministerial Council Meeting which was held in Venezuela last week, the country indicated that it would not renew the agreement which comes to an end in November of this year.
He noted that this was a result of the fact that Venezuela would be taking rice from Suriname and as such, did not require the large amount which was currently being sent from Guyana.

So this was told to Jagnarine Singh and Leslie Ramsammy and they hid it from the people.

Shame on you Donald Rumtar.

“They said that they had communicated that to the former Administration that they will not be renewing the contract and they still stand by that,” he said.

You are not a rice farmer, not in any way associated with the rice industry in Guyana and might not even be resident in Guyana, so it is easy for you to express the sentiments that you posted. It is also apparent that you are unaware of the international market in rice and how guyana' cost of production stacks up to those of other major or even minor producers. We will await the announcements on the new markets, if it happens.

You making some bold assumptions, Uncle ZED.

Are you asking a question or shooting in the dark?

So let us weed out the bullsyte from your pen and focus on the one element of sense you made.

"Guyana cost of production stacks up to those of other major producers".

OK Guyana vs Suriname  - show me the facts.  

Suriname is not a cheaper producer of rice than Guyana.   This is all nasty bullyism politics.

It will come back to bite them, these nasty Bolivarian fools.

It will be tough. Guyana costs are very high in comparison to Asians.

Costs are extremely high for everything in Guyana. They are priced out of almost everything marketable with production in it. 

Why is Guyana not exporting rice to England?

Why is Guyana not exporting rice to Brazil?

 The government of Surinam will compete for any market, as will any  Caricom  country, or any other rice producer. It is for the Guyanese milkers and the government of Guyana to seek out markets in a competitive environment. Also, what did Guyana expect to happen when the  border dispute heated up? It is not that it has no other options available to it or that there is something special about Guyana' rice.

Signet answers both of your questions.

Look, if Guyana cannot compete in the international market without any preferential treatment, then it needs to approach countries with the notion that it is beneficially advantageous to them both to import rice from Huyana. This needs to happen at a government to government basis. The current legislation needs to change and the Guyana rice development board must be tasked with the primary responsibility with the selling of Guyana' rice.

Two years ago, I made a trip to Abuja(Nigeria)-invited by a rice importer. He wanted to purchase more rice(He was expanding into other African regions). 

Guyanese prices were 50% more. The rice was a better quality. But it did not matter-pricing was the issue.

I had a meeting with Ramsammy-the intent was see how production costs could be reduced. Nothing came out of that.

I think the same issues will be for Brazil and England.

Chavez was kind to Guyana. With bartering deals can be made.

Please correct me if I am incorrect. I always accept valid criticism and U.S. It to grow.

... Will use it to grow.

Please do your own research. You want to disagree, then show the data.

There is more to come.  Did anyone expect these nimcompoops to have negotiating skills?   There MO's are to destroy not to build.  So running a government is a foreign language to them.   They form big armies and when they are under attack, they cry like pussies.

Prashad:

Guyana's only true asset is its people.  That is why it is imperative we educate them and upskill them to unleash the potential of the land and the mines and all of our other resources.

The work ethics in Guyana is PISS POOR.  Even here in the Bahamas is superior to GT.

We drink our beers here but we work very hard.

This is what happens around the World when Masters install Puppet, Incompetent Govts!!!!!!!!!

Plenty more of the PPP skeltons to come out of the closet.

Leslie the RUM-SUCKER-SWAMMY lied again to the nation by not informing them that Maduro told him to FRUCK off in March 2015.

Is the statement a government spin or the truth. Maybe, the firmer minister or head of the GRDB will clarify.

With baited breath we wait for Ramswammy and GRDB's statement.

bated breath you ignorant oaf. Not "oats" but "oaf."

Sorry, keyboard malfunctioned you scrunt.  .

Glad you understood the message.

With bated breath we wait for Ramswammy and GRDB's statement.

Happy now MAD MAX PTSD-STD Shyster?

It wasn't an error. You're just an ignorant wannabe poser chap. We all know you Sase for the lout you truly are.

Apologies about your failure to secure one out of 30 Minista wuk

I can't believe they picked "I is Broomes" over wan towering genius and aspiring tycoon such as yourself.

PTSD acting up.  I told you a million time I do not know any Sase.  But what can I do.  if you say you swallow the moon, who am I to tell a mad man that he is being delusional.

I am just sorry that the poor man got to get attack because of my post.

You want to attack me personally.

Please do, start and then I will deal with you.

But I cannot defend someone I do not know.

You really want us to believe you've never ever even met pot salt Sasenarine Singh?

You a member of the Mosaic Brain Trust never met Sase or ANY Sase for that matter

Venezuela is in shambles. I stated here this arrangement cannot last. Additionally, the scheme is inherently a poncy scheme and should not have gone into in the first place. Venezuela could pay for the rice and we pay for the oil based on secure pricing and understandable margins.

The PPP needed to have this dubious scheme where they have great latitude to skim. Note, price in Guyana was never low compared to if they procured oil on the open market. Further, the farmers were six month behind in payment and often got less than they expect consistently. Meanwhile, the PPP friends and family network controlling the shipping of rice and oil and manning the Guyoil complexes have become obscenely wealthy . Not to mention the free gasoline all of them used!

I am glad this scheme is over. It forces the government to buy on the open market or others with the money to buy on the open marked and sell at market prices.

The former PPP Govt was fully aware of this months ago. Another example of how corrupt and incompetent the PPP Govt was running this country.

Deal with it.

Nagamootoo condemns pre-election silence on cancelled rice-for-oil pact

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has revealed that there is written evidence that the previous government knew that Venezuela was planning to cancel the rice for oil arrangement with Guyana but kept it quiet heading into the elections.

The deal which involves Guyana bartering over US$130M in rice or 30% of its exports in exchange for fuel will end in October and Finance Minister Winston Jordan says in meetings he had recently in Caracas “they said that they had communicated that to the former Administration” (Times). The seven-year arrangement has helped Guyana’s rice exports jump from 182,000 metric tonnes in 2008 to 500,000 MT in 2014.

Writing on his Facebook page, Nagamootoo notes “in light of press reports this morning regarding the Venezuela market for Guyana’s rice, it is necessary that it be noted there is documentary evidence that Venezuela’s decision was communicated to former Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Guyana’s Ambassador in Caracas Geoffrey Da Silva.

It is sad and inexcusable that the Guyanese people were not advised of this by the former PPP government. Questions will now have to be asked as to whether the Guyanese people, and the thousands of rice farmers in particular who could be affected, were being held hostage by the PPP’s silence purely for the purposes of narrow politicking.

Further this revelation comes on the heels of Venezuela’s actions to challenge what is lawfully Guyana’s territory and it will have to be considered whether Venezuela’s position of the non-renewal of the Petro Caribe barter agreement is indeed an act of economic sanction against Guyana.

The government will explore fully, all options to ensure that farmers and those dependent on Guyana’s rice industry are not adversely affected.”

The oil for rice agreement came about after former President Jagdeo told Hugo Chavez at a 2009 United Nations meeting in New York that he had some rice left over and would he buy it. Chavez sent him to Maduro who was foreign minister and the two subsequently struck a deal. Under the current agreement, Guyana is expected to supply approximately 210,000 tonnes of paddy and polished rice annually to Venezuela, according to a Times article of April 16 2015. The value of this supply amounts to US$130M

PPP firmly with gov’t on Venezuela controversy- Ramotar

Former President Donald Ramotar says that the PPP/C will stand firmly with the APNU+AFC government as it relates to the Venezuela controversy.

At a press briefing held at Freedom House yesterday, Ramotar said that the Arbitral Award of 1899 on Guyana’s border was binding and that “we are going to support the government on the issue of the sovereignty of this country.”

He said that “just at the end of our term in office we had come to the conclusion that the Good Offices Process was not working and we were approaching the United Nations to have a look at another kind of mechanism to bring this matter to a final conclusion, but we have in the past when the PNC was in government and we were in the opposition from 1964-1992, we had supported the government on this issue and now our position remains the same, we stand with the government and we stand in total unity on this issue of Venezuela’s claim on our territory.”

Simple matter now for the PNC government to secure other markets.