BOOSTING BUSINESS IN BERBICE

Oct 15, 2017 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

---

The Berbice region (4 and 5) is sandwiched between two rivers and there are two other rivers running through it. Berbice by itself is large and deeply cultural, so there is plenty of scope to put its wealth of advantages to good, money-making use. On the Services spectrum, entertainment, food, hospitality, sports and cultural extravaganzas top the list. They all fit into the Tourism portfolio since Services, in all its various colorations, add to the range of options for visitors to this country, and to the dollar value of Guyana’s overall tourism product.
Berbice has always possessed amazing potential for development of the things that residents have taken for granted for centuries. Imagine what can be earned if Eco-tourism, Heritage tourism and Agricultural tourism were developed into museums, organized tours through production processes like fish preservation and rice cereals, or the preservation of old lodgings from the days of colonial slavery and indentureship. All it takes is some imagination, a business plan and partner funding.
The APNU+AFC Government is fully aware that Regions 5 and 6 have excellent potential for fast development. Region 6 alone is home to three towns, and it is the only region that is bordered by two countries – Brazil and Suriname. Berbice is our third largest administrative region, and in area, these two regions together is larger than the countries of Belize, Jamaica, and neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, not to speak of the little islands in the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Berbice has always had remarkably rich cultural diversity, and economic activities that include fishing, cash crop, rice and sugarcane farming, cattle rearing, timber harvesting, bauxite mining and shipping. Then there are the space, facilities and resources for fishing, bird watching, canoeing, camping and sports tourism including horse racing and sport fishing.
The regional and government’s leaders who opened the 2017 Expo in Region 5 have managed to tip the scales and they’ve given us a glimpse into the potential of this county. At the Expo Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, stressed very strongly that agriculture will continue to be a key industry in all of Guyana, and the driver of our economic growth. He pointed out that Berbice is one of the largest active productive agricultural regions in the country, and that it can yield sufficient produce for the export market, including coconut and their by-products.
In recent remarks, Minister Gaskin said that his Ministry wants to see the rice industry grow stronger throughout the country. We also want to see the development of our many productive, value-added industries in Berbice, in Bartica, Mabaruma, Lethem and every piece of available space including the vast Rupununi Savannahs.
Minister Gaskin said, “I am delighted to see our economy being tackled at a regional level with regional Chambers of Commerce ‘selling’ their values, promoting investments and tourism. This (Expo) is how we become a productive and competitive nation; this is how we showcase this region,” the Minister said as he complimented the organizers of the Region 5 Expo.
He also reiterated that the primary roles of the private sector are driving our economy through investments, being the leaders that communities need who stop at nothing to advocate for better conditions for doing business; and initiating activities like the Expo that market their people’s products, and encourage business partnerships and new investments.
In response, the sitting Chamber President, Imran Sacoor, addressed recent statements by H.E. President Granger who had spoken of the Government’s intentions to repatriate Guyanese affected by the recent storms across the Caribbean (55 persons have come home to date).
Mr. Sacoor had said, “I want to endorse the call by the President to encourage the people from the Caribbean to come to live in Guyana. The support that we (have given) to the Caribbean is a good human call. It is also an opportunity for us to ‘up-sell’ ourselves to the (Caribbean) region. We don’t have earthquakes, hurricanes and these natural disasters, but we have resources which make us a rich country. We need to start marketing ourselves to other countries so that over time we can attract investment; we can grow our population and we can have more people to do commerce with”.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
This broad scale development, growth of new and traditional industry that the Minister referred to actually falls under his umbrella, in the arms of the Industrial Development Department, also known as the Industry Department that has been in existence since 1991. The Department executes two main objectives:
(i) Support the development of value-added agro, timber and other products indigenous to Guyana
(ii) Enhance the export potential, market spread and other economic opportunities, especially for vulnerable groups in poor and remote communities.
The main objective of the Industry Department is to oversee and facilitate the actual development of the nation’s industrial capacity, and create opportunities for Made-in-Guyana products in the international marketplace. In essence, this department, peopled by highly accomplished development professions, is there to develop and monitor the growth of the Industrial Estates in Guyana. They are also required to review existing legislation, monitor the implementation of recommendations and draft industrial policy.

GUYANA’S INDUSTRIAL ESTATES
The Government of Guyana has opened access to industrial estates, particularly to support our manufacturing sector. The Industry Department currently monitors two Industrial Estates with 120 developed plots at Coldingen, ECD and Eccles, EBD.
These estates support 57 operational factories and a total of 4,000 jobs. The main industries in operation there are wood-processing, cement and block-making, electronics, electronic engineering, food processing, fish processing, furniture manufacturing, metal fabrication, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, and printing.
In addition, the Industry Department is currently in the process of developing new industrial estates at Belvedere, Berbice and at Lethem in Central Rupununi. The latter is an ongoing project that the Ministry would like conclude in mid 2018.

---

---