Seventh Competitiveness Council meeting held

President Bharrat Jagdeo, members of the private sector and other stakeholders met on Tuesday to continue dialogue at the Seventh Session of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC).

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA) the NCC is Guyana’s highest private-public advisory council with an overarching goal of delivering on the objectives of the National Competitiveness Strategy (NCS) for better employment, exports and investment.

The president launched the second draft of the NCS on May 2006, four days after the signing of a MoU between government and the Private Sector Commission for the establishment of the NCC. The NCC oversees ongoing strategy formulation, adherence to the goals of the NCS and the implementation of policies and programmes. It meets every quarter; provides advisory support to the government and submits recommendations, every quarter, to the sub-committee of Cabinet for Trade and Investment. Its members comprise 12 representatives, six of whom are government nominated, four from the private sector and two from organized labour.

During the first three years of the council’s operations, technical assistance was provided through support from the Inter-American Development Bank that catered to the drafting of internal procedures, the commissioning of technical studies and mediation between public-private councils and the NCC.