Making this announcement during his speech at the opening of a two-day seminar under the theme `Doing Business with Brazil’, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Clement Rohee said the agreement covers technical assistance in the area of the promotion of small businesses both in Guyana and Brazil.

The establishment of a Consulate in the Roraima State, which will serve to assist interested businessmen, has further assisted these plans.

"Trade promotion is an important aspect of the work of Guyana's Diplomatic Missions and my Ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to achieve the objectives of establishing Trade Promotion Centres in Missions and Consulates both in Guyana and Brazil."

"In the Latin American and Caribbean regions, where we face similar challenges, we are all still seeking to expand our access to regional markets. This is ongoing while we struggle to establish terms and conditions that serve to promote and regulate free trade as well as safeguard the right of our people to fair trade," the Minister said.

"It is in this light that we continue to press for Special and Differential Treatment for Smaller Economies at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in the context of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)," the Minister explained.

Brazil's Ambassador to Guyana, Ney do Prado Dieguez, who also spoke at the seminar's opening, noted that the MERCOSUR agreement of trade and investment signed in June 1999, transcends bilateral limits and allows Guyanese products to flow into continental trade.

"As a global trader," the Ambassador said," Brazil has established balanced and well distributed partnerships with four economic blocs such as the European Union (EU), the USA, India, Asia and Africa and the Latin American Integration Movement."

The agreement between IPED and SEBRAE, which in essence, is a technical one, has as one of its main objectives the promotion and development of small and medium enterprises, located both in Guyana and Brazil. These objectives will be realised through activities, which will enable those enterprises to reach quality, productivity, and competitive levels to become part of the international market.

Further, it is hoped that through the soon-to-be-concluded agreement, IPED and SEBRAE will stimulate and promote joint activities of international, national, regional and local levels, according to their fields of competence.