Strategic Development Plan not possible after one year – Business Minister

Jun 29, 2016 News

Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin

There have been calls emanating from the public and the political opposition for the Government of Guyana to publish a development plan for the nation. At the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Small Business Development Finance Trust Inc. (SBDF) held on Monday last, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin stated that such a plan could not be possible after just one year in office.
He assured the gathering that a strategic development plan is on the way for Guyana, and that it should not be expected that such a plan would be developed and implemented in that length of time.
“Our government has been in office just about a year now, the development of any serious strategic long term development plan, does not happen in a year.”
According to Gaskin, the national development strategy that was developed in the late 1990s took a few years to put together. The Minister reminded those in attendance that there are a host of plans which have never been established.
“We need to understand too that Guyana is a country with lots of plans and a lot of those plans are sitting on shelves in offices never having been implemented.”
Gaskin urged that for a long term plan to be successful, it would require input from all stakeholders. The Minister noted “that plan has to stem from a national vision that we all accept”.
Moreover, he does not expect the plan to be specific to one government. “It cannot be the plan of any one government; it must be our plan, the Guyana plan.”
Gaskin believes such a nationalistic approach is slowly evolving. He credits the frequent reference to terms such as “Value Added Productivity”, “Green Economy” and “Sustainable Development” as having influenced the vision of Guyanese regarding development.
According to Gaskin, these concepts have meaning and are becoming imbedded in the psyche of Guyanese. As a consequence, he believes a vision is being promoted and once that vision is crystallized, it can be used for the development of a strategic development plan for the future of Guyana.
Gaskin also sought to address the position which some persons have taken; that the economy has slowed down since the May 2015 elections. He expressed that an election should be routine for a country and that at no time should it be allowed to affect business relationships.
“We cannot allow our economy to be disrupted every five years because of an election, and the more our economy develops the more harm such a disruption may do to our economy.”
The Minister ended on the notion that Guyana’s democracy has progressed over the years, and as such, an election should be nothing more than an exercise to change or keep the government of the day.

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