Way paved for Guyanese SMEs to participate in int’l food expo

…as World Trade Centers Georgetown, Miami sign MoU

The World Trade Centers in Georgetown, Guyana and Miami, Florida on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which paves the way for advancing the interests of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities, including participation in the annual international Food and Beverage Show of the Americas set for later this year in Miami.
At a simple signing ceremony, the MoU was inked by Ivan Barrios, President and Chief Executive Officer of WTC Miami, at its Miami office with WTC Georgetown Executive Director, Wesley Kirton.
The two organisations outlined the scope of their intended collaboration to include market intelligence and research; support for business-to-business networking; trade policy information sharing; development of strategies for mutual market access for products and services; training and capacity building; and the exchange of trade and investment missions.
In delivering virtual remarks, Chairman of Demerara Distillers Ltd, Komal Samaroo, who is also Chairman of WTC Georgetown, said the World Trade Center in Guyana has a “critical” role to play in promoting trade with Guyanese businesses and the rest of the world.

“So, I believe our two World Trade Centers working together can further enhance and increase the level of trade that takes place now between Guyana and the US, and particularly at this time as countries look more at their food security, supply chain, on-shoring, near-shoring and all these adjustments that are taking place,” Samaroo said.
He added that the Food and Beverage Show of the Americas is of particular interest to Guyana as several legitimate small and medium sized food producers seek overseas markets.
Consequently, WTC Miami’s Barrios announced that resulting from the MoU, a group of small Guyanese food producers who might not be ready to exhibit could still participate in this year’s show free of cost thereby benefiting from the networking opportunities as well as meetings and the conference component of the event. These producers will have to satisfy certain conditions including recommendation by WTC Georgetown.
Barrios also advised that there will be a kitchen at the show to facilitate how products are used to prepare various dishes. He added that Guyana is welcome to have a chef participate to demonstrate how specific Guyanese dishes are prepared.
Vice President of World Trade Center, Miami, Alicia Ancona welcomed Guyana’s participation in the event, whether it’s Guyanese businesses exhibiting their products or just visiting to network.
“That’s something, that we work with countries that have not yet been at the show. We encourage them to visit. We meet with them beforehand; we do tours beforehand… to have the opportunity to meet with potential partners as they explore either entering the US market or exporting globally,” Ancona said.
In thanking WTC Miami for working with WTC Georgetown on the MoU and its eventual signing, Kirton described the agreement as “providing a platform for mutually beneficial strategic initiatives which can benefit micro, small and medium sized enterprises. We must ensure we maximise the potential of this new relationship.”
WTC Georgetown will arrange an outreach to food and beverage manufacturers in Guyana to further sensitise them about the Food and Beverage Show and Conference of the Americas, which will be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center from September 16-18. This event will attract more than 600 exhibitors and buyers from over 50 countries.
World Trade Center Georgetown – the first in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) region – was initially set to open in February 2023. However, the opening was pushed back to this year as a result of delays in the shipment of building materials and other factors.
Kirton had told <<<<Guyana Times>>> last year that they had received expressions of interest from both local and foreign companies to rent office space at the Center, which will be located on High Street, Kingston.
Additionally, he had noted that WTC Georgetown started some groundwork ahead of its opening, working with local SMEs to ascertain their challenges and what opportunities they were looking for as well as prepare them to access international markets.
Local beverage giant DDL had acquired the licence in 2022 to set up the WTC in Georgetown with the aim of connecting Guyanese businesses with potential partners around the world, to access information as well as new markets through the network of more than 300 World Trade Centers globally.