Enhanced high-level discourse between senior officials of government and officials of the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) aimed at resolving the challenges confronting the country’s manufacturing sector has still left the sector with a slew of unresolved issues which continue to stymie its potential and inhibit its growth, Immediate Past President of the Association Shyam Nokta told the its Annual General Meeting on Thursday February 28th at the conclusion of the final year of his two-year term at the helm of the organization.
In a measured presentation which clearly sought to strike a balance between effort and concrete accomplishment, Nokta was effusive in his praise of the role which the Government of Guyana/GMSA Ministerial Round Table, created in 2017, had continued to play last year in enhancing public/private sector discourse on key manufacturing issues through a Joint Technical Committee co-chaired by the two sides though he said that the enhanced dialogue had, nonetheless, left behind a host of still unresolved issues for the sector.
While acknowledging that the Joint Technical Committee had proven useful in helping to share information and perspectives and to advance collaborative actions” and foster “a functional working relationship between the GMSA and the Government of Guyana,” Nokta alluded to a number of “barriers that include tax measures, access to finance, market access and trade facilitation, procurement, as well as high costs and unstable energy supply” which he said continued to retard the advancement of the local manufacturing sector.
