GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Investment opportunities in Guyana will be boosted with the opening of the World Trade Centre Georgetown (WTCG).
This is according to the Chairman of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Komal Samaroo .
“Once this building is commissioned and the WTCG gets fully operational, we are going to be actively involved bringing opportunities and businesses in Guyana, particularly the small, medium and micro business opportunities,” he said at the official opening of the WTCG headquarters located on 44 High Street, Kingston next to the Guyana Elections Commission.
He said WTCG has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with several sister WTC organizations including those in Panama, United States and India for collaboration in areas such as information exchange on regulation and market access, training in Mandarin and the exchange of trade and investment missions. He said through the MoU with WTC Miami, three major Guyanese manufacturers were afforded an opportunity to display their products at the American Food and Beverage Show in Miami last year September.
Samaroo said the WTCG was also working with affiliates in Asia, Latin America and Africa along with the Guyana diplomatic missions abroad “to open up markets for our own brands that we are promoting locally.” The WTCG had held a forum on the impact of global shipping on Guyana’s supply chain and formulated several recommendations.
Among the WTCG’s other achievements, he said, was a study, including recommendations, on updating Guyana’s copyright and intellectual property laws after meeting with Guyanese creative industries. A copy of the study was presented to President Irfaan Ali at Friday night’s formal opening of the Centre.
Since the World Trade Center Georgetown license was formally presented to DDL on March 25, 2022, Samaroo said the local affiliate has been “quite active” in the WTC organization by promoting Guyana and its trade and investment opportunities at major fora and countries including Ghana, India, United States, Colombia, Dominican Republic and France.
Executive Director of the WTCG, Wesley Kirton said the entity would not be rivalling other private sector organizations in Guyana but would offer local businesses opportunities to showcase themselves to more than 300 world trade centers around the world in more than 100 countries with about one million business associates.
He said the now high-tech building has been modified in line with international structural and safety standards. Its “advanced technologies” ensure a safe, secure and comfortable environment. The integrated security system provides comprehensive visibility and control, combining CCTV surveillance, access management, weapons detection, visitor tracking and environmental sensors, and fire detection and suppression.
President Ali, in brief remarks, expects the WTCG, as an “enabling institution” to play an important role in fast-tracking technology transfer, human capital integration and efficiency of doing business by adopting the best international practices. “That is why the World Trade Centre and organizations such as these, with the network it has, is so critical for this phase of transformation. It’s no longer a phase of development,” he said. The Guyanese leader said he looked forward to WTCG helping to shape Guyana’s new economic culture in areas of export readiness, trade facilitation and global competitiveness.
He restated that his government would be establishing a zero percent “special investment vehicle” to co-invest with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce the cost of financing and allow capital markets to match the financing. “It also reduces the risk of lending to SMEs and with the reduction of risk comes the reduction of collateral requirements so all of this will come together to help our SMEs,” he said.
Among the issues for SMEs, he said, are ramping up their competitiveness, meeting international market standards, and accessing cheap capital and technology. “Without the technology, the viability of businesses will be questioned in today’s environment,” he said.
