Ft. Lauderdale – President of the Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce Wesley Kirton told participants at the Third Annual Florida International Trade Conference and Expo (FITCE) 2017 that Guyana offers attractive investment opportunities in a range of sectors including food crop production and processing, renewable energy, mining, information technology, the creative industries, tourism development and support services for its emerging oil industry.
“Guyana also offers attractive investment incentives including tax holidays; duty free concessions on machinery, equipment and supplies; repatriation of profits and work permits for persons with skills which cannot be sourced in the country,” said Kirton.
Guyana was among some 50 countries which participated in FITCE 2017 sessions entitled “Doing Business with the World” at which countries highlighted the available business opportunities and the advantages of doing business there.
FITCE 2017 was held October 17-18th at the Broward County Convention Center.
There were also exhibitors at the expo from Guyana including the University of Guyana, Sonia Noel Designs, Roraima Airways, Surinam Airways (Guyana office) and JTZ Publishing along with the Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce.
University of Guyana booth at FITCE 2017
In his presentation Kirton pointed to some transformative developments taking place in Guyana which include a completed bridge linking Brazil and Guyana; the soon to be embarked upon construction of a highway from Guyana’s border to link with Georgetown; efforts to privatize the sugar industry which offers opportunities for the introduction of a sugar refinery as well as diversification; recalibration of the University of Guyana to facilitate new programs such as Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation and the discovery of significant volumes of oil offshore the country’s coastland.
Kirton added that Guyana has some well trained available labor and a massive pool of trainable young people hungry for an opportunity to be productively engaged. He also pointed to trade and partial scope agreements with several countries which provide for preferential access of Guyanese products into their markets.
He also informed the audience of Guyana’s award winning El Dorado Rum which he said has for years been copping the top prize as the number one rum in the world. “If this rum is not yet in your market here is an opportunity to become the distributor in your country of a world class product.”
“So you have a pretty good overview of what Guyana has to offer and so I invite you to go visit Guyana and explore for yourselves first hand what the country has to offer. I’m sure the government, the private sector and the people of Guyana will welcome your interest in doing business with Guyana and be assured that when you visit you will enjoy the best hospitality which cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. Now, I did speak of transformative developments taking place in Guyana.
I want to leave you with this news clip about our emerging oil industry (Click image to watch). I can assure this not fake news!
In an invited comment Guyanese designer Sonia Noel said that she found her participation in FITCE 2017 most productive and developed several business contacts with which she will be following up, a view shared by the delegation representing the University of Guyana.
Among the interest shown in Guyana by participants at FITCE 2017 is for investment in renewable energy, a call center, and housing development.
The Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce has provided these companies with the contact information for the relevant authorities in Guyana and will assist in facilitating follow up action.
