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Lucrative concessions/tax breaks…Govt. to address Chinese investors on Thursday
Amidst concerns about several multi-billion-dollar investments in the country by especially the Chinese, the new administration is expected to address a group on Thursday.
Williams, Chairman of the Guyana-China Business Council (GCBC)
According to the Guyana-China Business Council (GCBC), yesterday, the meeting will be held at the Arthur Chung International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, on Thursday.
Chinese entrepreneurs who are residents or have invested in Guyana are expected to attend this first meeting of the Guyana-China Business Council (GCBC) for this year.
“This is a special meeting that will be addressed by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, and Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin,” the body says.
Zhang Limin, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, has also been invited to the meeting. “He is expected to speak about the bilateral trade relations and social contracts between Guyana and China which he recently said, have been maintained on a sound and stable developmental footing since diplomatic ties were first established between our two countries over 160 years ago.”
Current Chairman of the GCBC, Clinton Williams, said that the primary purpose of this special meeting is to facilitate a “productive exchange of ideas” through discussions of issues specific to the conduct of business in the various sectors of the economy in which Chinese investors and immigrants are involved.
The Guyana-China Business Council has been operating under the umbrella of the Private Sector Commission for more than 10 years, its statement said.
“It went into abeyance for a while and was resuscitated in 2012. The Council also played a significant role in the GuyExpo 2013 Business Forum that was coordinated by the Guyana
File photo: Chinese-owned, BaiShanLin’s shipyard in Linden. Chinese investors are to meet with Government on Thursday to discuss the new administration’s expectations.
Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) as part of its 50th Anniversary observances.”
The GCBC said that it expects that a wide cross-section of Chinese entrepreneurs will seize this opportunity to discuss the hot-button trade and social issues that concern them with the recently appointed Ministers of Government and their country’s Ambassador to Guyana.
Concerns have been growing over investments by the Chinese in recent years.
Not only have they been taking over commerce and buying up significant properties in the city, they have also entered the mining and logging sectors.
Local businesses have also been complaining about the quality of goods entering Guyana together with the lack of monitoring to ensure that the goods are meeting acceptable standards in terms of quality and safety.
Of special concern to the new administration, which was in opposition in the last Parliament, was the lucrative concessions granted to a number of Chinese companies in logging and mining
Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin
sector.
A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, which won the May 11 elections, had vowed to examine a number of agreements and several seemingly lucrative tax breaks and other concessions.
Questions were raised over what Guyana was benefiting as against what was being extracted.
Truckers and barge operators have complained that Chinese companies like BaiShanLin have unfairly taken away their businesses.
Residents of Region Ten had complained of roads being badly damaged by the heavy containers and other heavy equipment, but taxpayers were forced to foot the bill.
The Chinese Government themselves have been lending Guyana billions of dollars for development works that include the Timehri airport expansion project, the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project, the E-Governance project and the Guyana Power and Light Inc.
Cash-flush China has been rapidly expanding across the globe into commerce and large-scale infrastructural projects.
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