Several major projects which are coming on-stream here are laying the basis for a significant take-off of the Guyana economy, and the Guyanese Diaspora is well placed to play an important role in aiding and enhancing this development, Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran, SC, told a Guyanese-American forum on Friday in New York.
The Speaker, who was the special guest, was addressing the Guyanese-American Business & Professional Council at their First Annual Network and Awards Dinner Gala and the celebration of Guyana’s 42nd Independence Anniversary.
He told his audience, including Guyanese-born Queens Borough President, Helen Marshall and keynote speaker, CEO of Young American Business Trust, Washington, DC, Roy Thomasson, that Guyana offers vast and varied business opportunities and wide areas for investment, ranging from eco-tourism, agriculture, agro-industry, aquaculture, information outsourcing, light manufacturing, mining, forestry and many others, along with a high literacy rate, competitive employment costs and generous incentives.
Ramkarran observed that over the past ten to twenty years there has been an explosion of activity by organized Guyanese to provide all conceivable forms of sustainable assistance for their home and other communities in Guyana.
“This massive contribution by the Guyanese Diaspora to the development of Guyana has been matched by its increasingly vigorous interest in Guyana’s development,” the Speaker of Guyana’s National Assembly said.
Elaborating on the major projects which are taking off here, Ramkarran pointed to the Takutu Bridge, the Berbice River Bridge and the Skeldon Sugar Factory. He said further that infrastructure development, particularly in information technology, farm-to-market roads, interior roads, including the Georgetown to Lethem road, are all aiding this process.
Moreover, the Speaker said, several large proposals for bio-fuel development are under consideration on lands currently not utilized for agriculture, while a pre-feasibility study for a paved road to Lethem has started. “All of these developments are laying the basis for a major take-off of the Guyana economy,” Ramkarran asserted.
Facilitating role
He said further that “Your organisation’s timely formation can play a major facilitating role in this process. It is not lost to us that the Guyanese Diaspora is well placed to take advantage of these opportunities.” He noted too that many developing countries have seen their economies achieve high degrees of growth with the support of investment from their Diasporas.
The Speaker of the National Assembly observed that Guyana returned to economic growth last year of 5.3 percent.
He said that this exceeded expectations, despite catastrophic flooding in 2005 when Guyana lost about 60 percent of its GDP.
He said that several developments have added to a continuing positive business atmosphere, recalling that Guyana played host recently to the Rio Summit and one leg of the World Cup Cricket which showcased the country to the rest of the world as well as the new national stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
There is no doubt that Guyana faces many challenges, he acknowledged, but just as the economy has returned to growth, the US economy is moving towards a recession and there is an explosion in fuel and food prices.
However, the government has moved as quickly as possible to deal with the hardships created by rising food prices by offering significant relief to its employees and by encouraging the private sector to follow its example.
Such relief can never be enough but the effort has been commended by impartial observers, Ramkarran contended.
“At the same time the government has been encouraging Guyanese to invest in agriculture for export and has invited its Caricom partners to utilize Guyana’s land and agricultural resources to invest in food production,” Ramkarran pointed out.
Rich opportunities
Making a direct pitch to the diaspora, he said, “These rich opportunities for food production and agro-industries are available for Guyanese in the US who are better positioned to exploit them because they know Guyana and its culture better than anyone else.”
Ramkarran also referred to Guyana’s forests which he said had been made available in a “unique initiative by President (Bharrat) Jagdeo for its capacity to store carbon in the battle against global warming.”
While the country earns money from harvesting its forest products, the initiative is designed to bring the “lopsided distribution of incentives to an end and to secure for Guyana the resources to which it is entitled for maintaining its forests.”
In addition, Ramkarran told the Guyanese-American forum that the Takutu Bridge would greatly enhance economic cooperation between Guyana and Brazil, with the potential for trade and transportation links between southern Guyana and northern Brazil.
It is expected, Ramkarran said, that this important communication link will trigger a large expansion of trade between the two countries and open up possibilities for increased production in Guyana of goods needed in northern Brazil.
In addition, he said that the government has recognized the necessity for intensifying the process of building national unity and reducing political tension.
In that light, he noted the Stakeholders Forum recently convened by the President in which the Opposition participated and has already met on a number of occasions while many initiatives have been taken.
These include the proposal to establish a Parliamentary Committee on National Security enshrined in the Constitution which will involve the Opposition in matters of national security, Ramkarran said. He referred too to the Parliamentary Management Committee under his chairmanship which has agreed to discuss and settle the motion and draft legislation. The President has said that these initiatives will continue, he added.
The reforms to the Parliament of Guyana which have been agreed to by the Government and Opposition and implemented with their full support, Ramkarran asserted, indicate the progress which have been made in governance.
He told the forum that the Parliament now has a Parliamentary Management Committee which manages the business of the National Assembly, and has equal members of Government and Opposition and is chaired by the Speaker who has no vote. Decisions therefore are by consensus, he added.
“Parliament is not perfect by any means; but the progress which has been made should give comfort to investors that there has been unity and progress between Government and Opposition on this major area of governance,” Ramkarran said.
And the proposed establishment of a Committee on National Security as another instrument in the fight against crime is, Ramkarran argued, further confirmation of the continuing emphasis of Guyana on the importance of governance.
