GEORGETOWN, Sept 18, 2009 (AFP) -

Guyana is to double its rice exports to Haiti and help the Caribbean nation revive its rice industry damaged by imports of cheaper subsidized US grain, an official said Friday.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said the two countries would sign a memorandum, agreeing Haiti would scrap an 8.0 percent import tax on Guyanese rice.

In return the South American country will provide technical assistance in rice production to Port-au-Prince.

"It is the importation of the highly subsidized rice that destroyed the Haitian rice industry and we don't want that to be repeated," Persaud told AFP.

"That is why within our proposal we are offering to provide technical assistance to the Haitians in rebuilding their industry," he said on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community (Caricom) agriculture ministerial meeting.

Haiti currently buys at least 50,000 tons of rice a year from Guyana and, according to Persaud, the agreement would clear the way for the annual sale of another 50,000 tons.

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