[www.inewsguyana.com] – Guyana’s premier trade fair and exhibition, GUYEXPO was officially launched yesterday by President Donald Ramotar at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal under the theme, “Transformation: Partnering for a Better Guyana”.
GUYEXPO provides a platform for importers, exporters, retailers and wholesalers both local and foreign to showcase their products, interact with each other, and create trade linkages and will be held from October 2 – 5.
Delivering the feature address, President Ramotar spoke of the importance of building a strong, competitive productive sector in Guyana. He made reference to the recently held meeting of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), where the disadvantages of the unavailability of cheap energy were highlighted.
He said this state of affair can change given the fact that Guyana has an enormous capacity to produce renewable energy to satisfy its own needs, as well as those of neighbouring countries.
For this reason he said, his Government has been trying its utmost to develop the Amaila Falls Hydropower project. He assured that despite being voted down in the Parliament, the Government’s efforts to bring this project to fruition has been, and will remain unwavering since this project will see the country acquiring the most important infrastructure needed to propel its development.
“We will never have a strong industrial and manufacturing sector without having cheap energy in our society and therefore we will continue to pursue this project,” the President said.
The President said that the Government has successfully pursued major projects through PPPs such as the Berbice River Bridge and called on the private sector to make greater use of this mechanism; seeking strategic partnerships not only with each other, but with foreign companies as well to improve the capacity of the country and expand its economic base. He reiterated the need for more technology to be incorporated into the agriculture sector since it offers more possibilities for the sector and those involved in it.
He lamented that internationally, the price of food has begun to rise, and therefore it is important for the sector to be further diversified to ensure food security.
Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce (ag), Irfaan Ali in his remarks echoed the President’s sentiment on PPPs. He said that, “we believe partnerships are critical for transforming Guyana.” This call for partnership is reflected in the theme for this year’s event.
The Minister spoke of the tremendous investments from both the public and private sectors that are changing the outlook and the business environment of Guyana.
[Extracted and modified from GINA]
