President Bharrat Jagdeo last night said Guyana was working to improve the quality of local products and to encourage investment and he issued an invitation to visitors to explore the country and draw their own conclusions.
Speaking at the opening of the Guyana Gift and Craft Show at the National Exhi-bition Centre, Sophia, Presi-dent Jagdeo said the country is open to the progress of change in the light of globalization and free trade.
The craft show’s aim over the next three days is to showcase locally made products as well as to give local producers a platform to make connections with overseas markets.
The President emphasized that bad publicity and poor marketing affected investment flow into the country as even overseas based Guyanese were reluctant to come home because of what they heard. He asked the visitors present to explore the country and see it in terms of “where we have been and how far we have come”.
The Cricket World Cup being hosted in Guyana, he said will increase the country’s training and organizational skills. He noted that the thousands who have been trained in the hospitality industry will help to improve the sector and said he hoped the popularity of the CWC would influence the sector positively.
“I am very optimistic about the future of this country,” Jagdeo said.
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad said the craft show is patterned after the Caribbean Gift and Craft Show held in Barbados for four years and which has toured various Caricom countries. He said that over the years, this regional show saw 40%-50% of its exhibitors being Guyanese, and there was also a large demand for the local products, hence the plan to host one here.
The show will complement the growing tourism industry, he said.
Despite all of the negative reports and tabloid newspapers overseas which said the country could not “do it [host the CWC]”, he said, “we did it well.” He added that it was not South Africa that won on Wednesday, it was Guyana.
Director of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) Geoffrey Da Silva said the craft show was a one-stop shop and exhibitors were there “to do serious business.”
The craft show is being hosted by the Tourism Ministry in collaboration with Go-Invest and the private sector.
Also showcased at the opening was the Guyana Roots and Rhythms show that depicted Guyana’s colonial past and cricket in dances, plays and a documentary beginning from the fifteenth century.
In the main auditorium, Morpho Products of Grove, East Bank Demerara exhibited a variety of wooden bracelets made of the famed Purple Heart along with paintings, earrings and necklaces.
Bridget Allen of Mahdia was also hoping that lots of sales come her way for the straw baskets and fans along with the knitted clothing and knitted chair decorations she had on sale.
The craft show ends on Sunday and all are invited to experience a wide range of local products including clothing, furniture, condiments, ceramics, a depiction of the rainforest and to sample from the various food courts. (Nicosia Smith)
