By Professor Aimber? Soares de Freitas (MSc in Public Administration – University of Sao Paulo)Brazil and Guyana share geographical boundaries to Brazil’s extreme north and Guyana’s extreme south and southwest. However, many persons in both Brazil and Guyana are unaware of this fact and this may be a reflection of the isolation of their citizens from each other.Transportation links between these two South American countries scarcely assist in the elimination of such isolation. The only air transport link is a commuter one which provides a thrice weekly service between Georgetown and Boa Vista with a 30-seater turbo-propeller aircraft, and no sea transportation link between Guyana and any Brazilian port such as Santos (the largest shipping port in Latin America that traded over 72 million tons in 2006).Guyana’s primary trading contact with Brazil are via Boa Vista and Manaus which are much smaller than other Caribbean countries further away such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, but which are making better usage of the economic opportunities in Brazil.On the other side of the border Brazilians have failed to notice that Guyana is a country with territorial dimensions almost equal to Parana or Sao Paulo State and that it has a lot of forests still preserved. Guyana is bathed by the Atlantic Ocean and with potential for a deep water port could reverse the logic of transport in northern Brazil, in an extremely competent manner. Guyana also exports bauxite ore, a natural resource from which aluminium is produced,Cheap Jerseys Store, mainly to Russia and China, and not to Brazil,China NFL Jerseys, which is allowing good opportunities of investment in Guyana to go abegging.Also, Brazilians seeking to study English go to countries in either Europe or North America instead of trying to go to Guyana. The cost of living in Guyana is far cheaper than in the United States or in England,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, a fact which most Brazilians do not see.For many years, there have been talks in Brazil about a road link between Boa Vista and Georgetown,Wholesale Jerseys Online, via Lethem. Although it is less than 400 miles between these two cities, little progress has been achieved. The building of the bridge across the River Takutu on the border between the two countries has taken over seven years to complete but it should have been done much faster.Taking a look at the proposed road transportation link between Brazil and Guyana, the best choice of transport between the two countries and especially for Brazil is railway. A railway connecting Manaus to Boa Vista and Georgetown will allow for the marketing of the products in the industrial free zone of Manaus,Wholesale NHL Jerseys, the Pole Agro industrial of Roraima and could be a great alternative to soybeans in northern Mato Grosso that is shipped through the port of Itacoatiara, in Amazonas.The Port of Georgetown will reverse the logic in the heads of the Brazilian strategists. The navigation on the Amazon River is becoming much more expensive when compared with the opportunity to sell this production in a port near Georgetown.A ship that,China NFL Jerseys, for example, is bound from Asia to Manaus passes in front of the coast of Guyana. Well, there are studies here showing that that ship takes between eight and 10 days to travel from the front of Georgetown to Manaus.Meanwhile a freight train between Manaus and Georgetown (approximately 660 miles) will take less than one day of travel.Another important factor is that in Guyana is the CARICOM headquarters – the Common Market of the Caribbean. Therefore from Guyana, Brazilian products can reach the Caribbean market in a more economical and aggressive manner.And Brazilian entrepreneurs may be able to establish a sugar factory in Guyana for the production of the Demerara sugar for market in Boa Vista, Manaus and other parts of the Amazon region. Brazilian entrepreneurs have also failed to utilize such opportunities.Finally, there is a significant cultural exchange opportunity to be exploited between the University of Guyana and Brazil. At the moment there are not even exchanges between the University of Guyana and the Universities of Roraima and Amazonas, which would be much easier.The rhetoric of South American integration has a long history in relation to Guyana. We need more action and less talk.