From left to right: Sandra Husbands, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade; Carlos Wharton, Executive Director of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI); and Deodat Indar, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in discussion at the BCCI breakfast meeting.
THE world has started to pay attention to Guyana because of the oil findings by ExxonMobil. It is projected that this will transform the economy of Guyana significantly.
The projected influx of wealth has made Guyana an investor’s paradise. The country has also been called the “bread basket” of the Caribbean. Deodat Indar, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has called for Barbadian enterprises to look outward and the Caribbean in general to work together to drive trade in the region.
While speaking at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) breakfast meeting yesterday at the Hilton hotel, he stated that even though oil is the big topic now, there are also other industries that we can collaborate in the Caribbean such as Tourism, Agriculture and Energy.
He said, “Guyana now has one of the biggest oil finds in the entire world. Guyana is on the cusp of getting grander; the economy will expand exponentially in the next two decades and our Caribbean partners have to play a role together. We have to work together in the Caribbean to iron out all of these technical barriers that exist between us in terms of trade facilitation and we have to reduce them so that we have a smooth flow of business. From an enterprise level, businesses need to get up and get out there and use the entities and resources such as the Chambers and get business going.”
Indar insisted, “In Barbados, the biggest competence is the tourism sector/service sector. In Guyana, our service industries are growing. There was a point in time where we had very little in terms of a service sector in Guyana, now it is growing and will continue to grow. However, the services can do well with collaboration from Barbados; it could be through Government-to-Government arrangements or private sector arrangements.
“There is huge opportunity for expansion and the type of services in the hospitality sector that Barbados has can be beneficial for Guyana. Barbados has the best in the Caribbean in the tourism field and that is a strength that Barbados can leverage and work with Guyana. Also, financial services sector, we don’t have an actuary in Guyana; Barbados can fill the gap. Every sector has an opening, but Barbados has to be more outward looking; there are a lot of Trinidadian businesses in Guyana. I’m urging your private sector to work with us, and we will facilitate that.
“I don’t think immigration is an institutional barrier. There are issues and some cases, but I don’t think it is that big of a problem to effect change,” he noted. (NB)