GCCI participates in U.S. – Guyana Trade and Investment Roundtable
On July 11, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) joined several private sector organisations and government agencies for an engagement with a team from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on advancing trade and investment opportunities between Guyana and the U.S.
This engagement was geared towards identifying challenges to trade and investment as well as understanding the available opportunities and resources. President of the GCCI, Mr. Kester Hutson, and Senior Vice President, Mrs. Kathy Smith participated in the discourse, which provided an opportunity to discuss problem-solving ideas on coordinated and concerted action toward advancing bilateral trade between the two nations.
The meeting provided a platform for agencies including the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the U.S. Agency for International Development to discuss issues related to access to capital for local companies, data, and communication with the local private sector as well as the Ministry of Finance and the Guyana Office for Investment.
Ultimately, it had the objective of understanding the respective opportunities, mandates, and resources prioritized by the local private sector, the government of Guyana, and the U.S. agencies; identifying the challenges—whether informational capacity, process, or policy—that if addressed would generate more viable leads for consideration, and agreeing on modes of communication and cooperation to pursue the increase of effectiveness of the organisations and agencies involved.
