Honourable Anthony Boatswain
Minister of Finance and Trade,
Financial Complex
The Carenage
St. George's

23rd February, 2005

Dear Minister Boatswain,

Re: Discrimination Against Grenada Rice Mills Ltd

We wrote to the Prime Minister several times in the past, in his capacity as Minister of Trade and Finance,complaining of the discriminatory practices within CARICOM.

We also appealed to other government officials. Specifically, we complained of being denied the grant of suspension certificates for the sale of our processed rice to the region, while St. Vincent and other rice milling CARICOM States were being granted the said certificates. These member states receive their raw materials from the same country and supplier as the Grenada Rice Mills.

We enclose some related correspondence dealing with our problem, as created by CARICOM. Some of these documents are self-explanatory while others have been presented to demonstrate the contradictions and inconsistencies in the position taken by CARICOM and a particular member state.

As you will see, we have done everything within our means to obtain justice but to no avail. It is now quite obvious that nothing would change unless and until the Government of Grenada does something to rectify the situation.

Our denial of access to the region has cost us millions of dollars in actual and opportunity losses while denying much needed jobs to Grenadian workers and truck drivers. We are near bankruptcy at the moment, all because of the discrimination practiced by those who control CARICOM.

On the other hand St. Vincent and the Grenadines has enriched itself by an estimated $250 million (two hundred and fifty million dollars) from rice sales to the region during the eight years that we have been prevented from shipping our rice to CARICOM.

It is beyond question that the CARICOM partnership had been detrimental to the Grenada Rice Mills Limited. We are very disappointed that the Grenada Government has not seen it fit to correct this adverse situation. Additionally, our problems are compounded by two actions of the Government itself:

(1) The existence of an SRO which essentially prohibits the Grenada Rice Mills from selling bulk rice, except to the Marketing Board, which never meets its agreed commitments. The MNIB currently owes us approximately $1.5 million.

(2) In spite of our financial difficulties, the Department of Inland Revenue is threatening to close us down for taxes they claim are owing. These taxes are based on the Inland Revenue's own estimate of our trading figures.

In this period of crisis and destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan we believe that a solution to our CARICOM problems is urgently needed so that the Grenada Rice Mills can make a meaningful contribution to the daunting task of rebuilding our economy and nation.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is still trading extra-regional rice as a CARICOM product and is currently selling this rice on the Grenada market, thus further depriving us of a livelihood. We request that this should be immediately stopped, pending a resolution to the discriminatory practices against the Grenada Rice Mills Limited.

We further make the following request:

(1) That the anti fair-trading SRO, which is contrary to WTO principles, be removed to allow the Grenada Rice Mills to deal in bulk rice in the domestic market. This would result in immediate savings to consumers of $2 million per annum, while at the same time improving the cash health of the Grenada Rice Mills.

(2) That the Inland Revenue desists from basing its tax assessments on arbitrary estimates but rather on the actual results of trading operations, which are available for the review and confirmation by the tax Authority.

(3) That our fiscal incentives be extended by the eight years that we were illegally prevented from doing business within CARICOM. This would help to recover our losses (including lost opportunities), provide much-needed jobs for Grenadians, contribute to Government revenues in the form of GCT and AST, and restore the economic benefits that the incentives were intended to grant to our company.

We look forward to meeting you to answer any questions or concerns that you may have, and to obtaining your positive support in bringing an immediate solution to this costly problem.

Yours sincerely

Jack B. Sampson
Managing Director