Competing…

…US vs China
Your Eyewitness listened with some consternation to US Ambassador Nicole Theriot explaining the comparative paucity of American investment in our budding petro-state – expensive electricity, burdensome taxes, difficulties accessing land and local suppliers unable to meet companies’ requirements consistently!! Then there are the OECD rules they also have to observe like demanding EPAs and suchlike!!
Whew!! But while these are legitimate concerns – and any Guyanese businessman could supply the same list, with supplementary remarks unsuitable for a diplomatic reception!! As a strategy for competing with China – which the Yanks insist is their #1 priority – the message got a certain weakness, innit??  They seem to want our development problems solved before coming to participate in our development!! Lovely arrangement – prepare the market, upgrade the suppliers, secure the land, reduce the electricity bill and THEN telephone Washington when everything’s kosher!!
Meanwhile, the Chinks’ companies have been securing infrastructure contracts and establishing a massive commercial presence here – like the US$260 million Demerara bridge; the CJIA and highways galore!! You can fly over or drive across a commercial relationship – but a declaration of interest needs more imagination!! The competitive disadvantage practically announces itself – companies prepared to organise around difficult conditions can establish relationships, learn the market and secure business while their more cautious rivals are still explaining why the investment climate needs improving!!
By the time the Yankee board approves the exploratory visit, somebody else may know the customer, the supplier – and precisely which trench floods after twenty minutes of rain!! Now, this doesn’t mean Chinese contractors perform miracles or that we should accept whatever terms arrive attached to the backhoe. Nor should we confuse a construction contract paid for by Guyana with a foreign investor risking its own capital!! The national flag on the machinery doesn’t tell us who carries the financial risk!!
But Washington can’t treat every Chinese commercial advance as a geopolitical emergency while American firms treat entering the same market as an optional excursion requiring perfect weather!! The Ambassador’s concerns also point towards a business opportunity – suppliers lack capacity? Well, help develop them!! Financing’s available with EXIM? But you gotta beat the Chink’s terms!! Infrastructure’s inadequate? Then propose a commercially workable way to improve it!! If everything already worked here, we’d be a mature market with mature competitors and considerably less room for newcomers – but we’s a “frontier” – and look how Exxon has benefitted!!
Now this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t improve infrastructure etc. – we’ve already started while other US companies didn’t follow Exxon!! So, if the Yanks wants to compete with the Chinks, they gotta offer us something more immediately useful than an explanation of why competing’s difficult!!
For us, “we interested, but…” has never yet built a bridge!!

…with Smoking
Was a time when the smoker’s escape route seemed wonderfully straightforward – put down the cigarette and pick up a little electronic “vaping” device!! No burning tobacco, no ashtray smelling like yesterday’s bad decisions, and no need to announce your arrival with a hacking cough!! Progress had arrived, rechargeable and mango-flavoured!! But now the Government’s taking action against vaping and citizens might be forgiven for asking: “But wasn’t this the thing we were supposed to use to get away from the other thing?”
Welcome to the distinction between safer and safe – two words separated by one letter and a considerable amount of marketing!! Vaping’s safer than smoking – but somewhere along the journey from smoking alternative to lifestyle accessory, the qualifications became less conspicuous than the flavours!! “Less harmful than cigarettes” acquired the cheerful glow of “nothing to worry about”. Yet vaping can deliver addictive nicotine and expose the lungs to harmful chemicals.
Clearly, our lungs were never consulted about becoming a tasting room for strawberry ice!!

…in WIN
Whatever happened to Odessa Primus – General Secretary, founder member and MP for Sanction Man’s WIN. Suddenly, Sanction Man’s sissie Hana has declared herself “Director of Political Affairs” – and become the face and voice of the party.
Nepotism!!