Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Roraima Group of Companies, Captain Gerald Gouveia was returned unopposed as Chairman of the Private Sector Commis-sion (PSC) at the Commis-sion’s 17th Annual General Meeting held at Duke Lodge, Duke Street, Kingston on Tuesday.

Gerald Gouveia

Also re-elected to his former post as Vice-Chairman of the PSC, was Ramesh Dookhoo, who is also currently the President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GM&SA). Dookhoo was again elected to the post of GM&SA President earlier this year, a press release from the PSC said.

Meanwhile, the Commis-sion’s members elected Yog Mahadeo as Secretary and Chandradat Chintamani as Treasurer. Chintamani is the current President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry while Mahadeo is the Chief Financial Officer at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company. The new Secretary and Treasurer replace Bal Parsaud and Bert Sukhai respectively.

The press release said that despite challenges stemming from staff turnover, the PSC has made progress towards having its input on behalf of Guyana’s private sector make a difference. “That such progress has not been faster can be attributed to the organization’s need to refocus its efforts”, it said. The PSC noted that its organizational structure was revised and an amendment to the Contribution Agreement formalized the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) changed assistance to the new structure.

A new strategic plan was formulated and CIDA and the British Department for International Development (DFID), as joint funders of the project, assisted and an Operational Review was undertaken to provide recommendations. The PSC indicated agreement with the Review’s recommendations and in view of the slow progress; a new consultancy was launched in 2007/08 to refocus its efforts. “The PSC is now in a significantly improved position to affect the business climate in Guyana as a result of the creation of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) for Guyana on which the PSC represents the interests of the private sector directly to the country’s President who chairs the NCC himself”, the statement said.

It noted that the NCC is due to convene shortly as indicated by Jagdeo. The focus on Public/Private Dialogue has revolutionized the way the Commission relates to Government and National Private Sector Developmental issues, it added.