Minister of State, Joseph Harmon has issued a call to members of the business community in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) to develop proposals for the way forward for the sugar industry over the next six months.
He also urged them to pursue options for diversification in exploring non-traditional sectors and value added production. The Minister made these comments on Saturday evening at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Berbice Chamber of Commerce at the New Amsterdam Town Hall.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon speaking at the Berbice Chamber of Commerce’s fundraising dinner at the New Amsterdam Town Hall
Noting that Government has embarked on a process to determine what were the best options to ensure the viability of the industry, the Minister called on stakeholders in the Region to be drivers of economic diversification as Guyana could not continue to rely on what the President calls the six sisters: sugar, rice, timber, bauxite, gold, and fish.
“There are greater opportunities that present themselves for businesses individually or working with the workers’ union or workers’ organisations to take the benefit of what is going to happen in the short space of time,” Minister Harmon is quoted in a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency as saying.
Harmon added that while it was the Government’s responsibility to continue to develop an investment-friendly and more enabling environment for the growth of businesses, it is the responsibility of the Private Sector to tap into available resources to grow their businesses. Many of the concessions that were placed in the 2017 National Budget and resources allocated for Guyanese businesses are yet to be tapped into, Minister Harmon said. Private Sector officials were encouraged to recognise Guyana as a single investment space and were called on to bid for contracts as well as invest in other parts of the country.
“Step out of the box in which you operate and see that greater opportunities are available for you as business people,” Harmon said.
Additionally, Business Minister Dominic Gaskin, who was also at the event, told the gathering when the annual bailouts and investments in the sugar industry were considered against the current price of sugar, it was clear that things could not continue as they were and Guyana had to expand local manufacturing.
“This might be a good time for us to invest more in value-added productive businesses. If your imports aren’t selling, I can guarantee you that Guyanese want to buy local products. Guyanese are proud whenever we put quality local products on the market and this, for us, is a direction that we have been trying to nudge investors towards,” Minister Gaskin said.
Also speaking at the event, Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes told the members of the Private Sector gathered there that embarking on “out of the box” business ideas in the technological sector could result in profitable economic activity. Pointing to the use of robotics, Minister Hughes said numerous possibilities exist in the digitised environment and Guyana was poised to take advantage of the strides being made in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
“I am saying to you that this is how we take traditional agriculture, the traditional things we have done for many years that are still important to our country, still vital to our people and this is how we take it to another level, to a new generation of technology that we are well positioned to take advantage of,” she said.
Meanwhile, newly-elected President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce, Ryan Alexander made the commitment that the Private Sector in Region Six would be working arduously to seek opportunities outside of the traditional sectors. He touted the idea of using the vast estate lands for the development of micro-enterprises.
Representatives of the Indian High Commission, members of the Upper and West Berbice Chambers of Commerce and other Government officials were in attendance at the fundraising dinner, which provided the opportunity for Private Sector officials to mingle with the Ministers as they discussed the future of business in the Region and how they could work together to push economic development.
