Guyana, Barbados private sectors pursue investments

Guyana’s Private Sector Commission (PSC) on Monday held a consultation with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), to strengthen and explore additional investment opportunities between the countries.

Held at the Regus centre, Waterloo Street, Georgetown, the engagement saw intensive discussions on possible commodities and sectors that could either develop or expand their industries.

Chairman of the PSC, Paul Cheong, said local and international investors are essential as Guyana’s economy is set to expand. 

“We need to approach this, not only as business, but as friends and look for the long-term benefits. We are starting this now but in five, ten, fifteen years from now, the whole landscape would be changing and now is the right time to get in and get involved,” Cheong explained.

He said Guyana has a host of investment opportunities that could even benefit developed states worldwide.

Both sides have shown interests in areas of manufacturing, agriculture, trading, shipping, logistics, lumber, engineering, and infrastructural development, among others.

Executive Director of the BCCI, Misha Lobban-Clarke said she anticipates fruitful outcomes from the engagement.

“We are pretty excited. Guyana has a rich history of trade relations with the rest of the region. The times we are now is among the changing of the tides as a result of covid and no doubt we have to be looking at cementing and increasing our trade partnership,” the executive director noted.

She said the 195-year-old BCCI stands ready to consult and lend support in various business aspects.

“We are the business support organisation, almost the engine support in terms of facilitating trade, and trade relation with our partners and so indeed we are here to lend support to the onus of capital, the business that are in the room, so please feel free to engage,” Lobban-Clarke added.

The bilateral discussion between His Excellency, Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali and Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, has prompted the investment relations and development between the two countries.

Last year, a high-level Housing and Investment Mission team headed by Barbadian Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, visited Guyana seeking investment opportunities and strengthened trade relations between the two Caricom nations.