The support programme aimed at the development and dissemination of the National Trade and Investment Export Strategy and Implementation Plan for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and to improve export competitiveness through Geographical Indications (GI) Certification Schemes for quality products in Guyana.

Two-fold purposes: To develop and disseminate a National Trade and Investment Export Strategy and Implementation Plan for St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and to improve export competitiveness through GI Certification Schemes for quality products in Guyana.

Six-fold outputs:

• National Trade and Investment Export Strategy (NES);
• Implementation Plan of Action for the NES;
• Study on potential GI products;
• Standards and technical specifications for five (5) GIs;
• Registration process for the protection of the identified GIs quality products;
• Market access strategies developed and presented.

Intervention areas:

• Analysis of constraints and opportunities for exports in major sectors;
• National Export and Investment Strategy (NES);
• National Export Strategy Implementation Plan of Action Identification of products to benefit from certification as geographical indications;
• Identification of Standards and technical specifications for quality origin products and the GI registration process.

Purpose 1: To develop and disseminate a National Trade and Investment Export Strategy and Implementation Plan for St. Vincent and the Grenadines

• Stakeholder consultations on the opportunities and constraints of exporting in SVG undertaken -- More than 50 stakeholders consulted;
• Four site visits conducted;
• Twelve (12) Strategic Sectors identified and analysed;
• Desk-research audit and analysis of major sectors conducted;
• Private Sector Standards Compliance report prepared and validated;
• Needs Assessment Document produced and validated;
• National Export and Investment Strategy developed and approved by the Beneficiary Institution;
• Roadmap for implementation of National Export Strategy prepared and approved by the Beneficiary Institution;
• Architecture of a National Export Council presented to the Beneficiary and validated during the Final Training and Validation Workshop;
• Training and Validation workshop of the NES and its implementation and financial implementation matrix in successfully held January 2020 with the active participation of the key stakeholders;
• Stakeholder awareness and validation session on the National Export and Investment Strategy and Implementation Plan carried out;
• Sustainability plan for the NES and IP prepared and validated.

Purpose 2: To improve export competitiveness through GI Certification Schemes for quality products in Guyana

• Assessment on the current level of GI development in Guyana, through analysis of the national GI legal framework, identification of key stakeholders, background work undertaken;
• In-depth assessment on the GI eligibility of 5 pre-selected products carried out;
• Five (5) Brief GI Assessment (one per product) on their GI potential prepared;
• Preliminary list of local quality origin products – Set up as a result of consultations with target stakeholders;
• Definition of key aspects for the selection of local quality origin products carried out;
• Preliminary list of local quality origin products identified;
• Pre-assessment table of GI indicators prepared;
• Submission of the pre-assessment on identified products to the respective authorities carried out;
• Exhaustive list of key indicators on the GI eligibility and market potential of identified products prepared;
• Field working visits to the areas of production of the 5 pre-selected products undertaken;
• Submission of the Brief GI Assessments of the five (5) pre-selected products to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs effected;
• Guidelines to Geographical Indications in Guyana
• GI Technical Specifications for Guyana Greenheart Wood;
• GI Technical Specifications Guyana Rice
• GI Technical Specifications Guyana Wild Heart of Palm;
• GI Questionnaire on the preliminary identified local quality products prepared and circulated to the key stakeholders;
• List of GI indicators and key questions to assess the GI feasibility of target products prepared and widely circulated;
• Pre-assessment and list of five (5) pre-selected products to be further studied undertaken;
• Exhaustive list of key indicators on the GI eligibility and market potential of identified products prepared;
• GI registration training for key stakeholders;
• Market access assessment for Guyana Wild Heart of Palm;
• Market access assessment for Guyana Rice
• Market access assessment for Guyana Greenheart Wood