Cooperation Framework to help local business build capacity

– Go-Invest CEO

The Cooperation Framework recently signed between the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) aims to build the capacity of local businesses.

Chief Executive Officer of Go-Invest, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop on Wednesday told DPI the idea is to ensure that there is a level playing field for both local and foreign investors.

“If we can bridge that gap, in some form of joint venture, some form of support area, then we would have achieved a lot more for our citizens and for our local companies so that agreement was to drive local content,” he said.

Local investors have the same incentives as foreign investors and to this end, Go-Invest would be collaborating with local businesses to ensure that they benefit from all the available incentives to grow their businesses.

“We are trying to put together investment packages and working along with the Guyana Manufacturing [and Services] Association allows us to interact with the companies to help them direct themselves to where the potential opportunities are,” Dr. Ramsaroop said.

The Go-Invest head also said while the Government encourages foreign investment, the goal is to ensure that Guyanese benefit in the long run.

“The more that we can build capacity and knowledge transfer within our local companies, the better off our people… the better off salaries will be… Our external markets will benefit from local, indigenous companies who are moving up the ladder,” he said.

Recently, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali said the local manufacturers and service providers have an important role to play in Guyana’s transformative economic agenda. The President made this statement in his feature address at the GMSA’s 25th annual Awards Ceremony in December 2020.

“Development will leap-frog over the next decade.  Our manufacturers and service providers will be integral to the writing of this glorious chapter in our country’s history,” President Ali said.

The President also noted that while there has been a lot of attention on the petroleum sector, since the PPP/C took office in August, measures have been put in place that have resulted in growth in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and other sectors.

President Ali had said the plans which are being implemented will lead to transformation in five foundational areas. These are higher levels of, and sustained, economic growth; the modernisation of the primary sectors – agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining; the installation of transformational infrastructure which includes support of manufacturing and services, rebalancing of the economy to boost value-added production and improving efficiency, encouraging innovation and ensuring greater competitiveness.