The opportunity for so doing comes with next month's 24th regular annual CARICOM Summit in Montego Bay and against the background of the failure by the recent 15th Meeting of the ministerial Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to come forward with a realistic recommendation.

Guyana, as the single largest producer and exporter of rice within the Caribbean Community, is undoubtedly the worst affected. But it remains a serious problem also for other member states like Suriname and Belize.

All three countries are seemingly united in their quest for an estimated 15 per cent hike in the Common External Tariff (CET) against third country imports of rice.

The proposed hike to a 40 per cent CET is currently being vigorously pursued by the regional producing countries as a result of the disturbing failure by CARICOM to have in place a much discussed and needed safeguard mechanism.

This has been under consideration for two years now, but after at least five meetings by a special working group, the problem remains unresolved with and with no apparent desire to give it urgent priority, despite the official complaints from the affected countries, among them Guyana.

Represented on the technical working group, whose last report revealed a very surprising departure from an original concept that was accepted in principle by COTED, are both producing and importing CARICOM member states.

Producers and Consumers
While some of the Community's consumer states, such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and St Lucia, are concerned that a hike in the CET to 40 per cent could result in increased prices on their respective local markets, the producing countries have been pointing to the mounting problems being faced by dumping of subsidised rice on their markets.

Guyana's Minister of Foreign Trade, Clement Rohee, who has been stoutly advocating a speedy resolution to the outstanding problem, said that an adjustment to the CET would have the effect of restoring consumer prices to the 2001 level to facilitate fair competition against subsidised foreign imports of the widely used commodity.

Clearly, a case exists for a practical resolution and it cannot be beyond the capacity of CARICOM heads of government to do so next month. They have to avoid passing the buck to yet another "working group meeting", or for yet "another" look by COTED.

The Community Secretariat itself faces the challenge to help in producing a working document of its own for guidance as part of a more concerted effort to find a practical resolution on an issue that is having serious socio-economic consequences for rice producing states like Guyana.

The concerns of local and regional rice farmers have also been well articulated by officials of both the Caribbean Rice Association (CRA) and the Guyana Rice Producers Association.