Plans are proceeding for the imminent staging of a high-profile Webinar designed to bring stakeholders in the agriculture and agro processing sectors together to attempt to chart the way forward against Covid-19-related challenges currently facing the two sectors, President of the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) Shyam Nokta has told the Stabroek Business.
With the conventional face-to-face communication now hamstrung by the protocols that have been compulsorily adopted in an effort to stave off the further spread of the virus, Nokta told Stabroek Business that while a mindfulness of the threat that Covid-19 presents needs to persist, there can be no question “of sitting and folding our hands” in the face of the problem. He said that agencies like the GMSA had to continue to press forward and that in the instance of the forthcoming Webinar it was a question of bringing stakeholders together to take a look at agriculture and agro processing and determining how we can bring improvements to those areas. The Webinar is expected to be staged within the next month.
The GMSA President told Stabroek Business that a decision on the Webinar had been made on account of a recognition that “in this time of challenge, guidance, assurance and leadership had to be offered.” He explained, however, that the GMSA’s keenness to attract maximum participation across the board in the event meant that it has wholeheartedly embraced the attendant challenges associated with ensuring access for as wide a cross-section of stakeholders as possible. Beyond the GMSA, other private sector stakeholders will be invited to participate in the event.
The forum, the GMSA President said, will seek to “talk about issues and identify actions that need to be taken” to enhance the fortunes of the agriculture and agro-processing sectors.
Nokta told Stabroek Business that impetus had been added to the initiative on account of the positive signals that the GMSA had received from government regarding its preparedness to work with systems and initiatives created to further the interests of the agriculture and agro- processing structures, The GMSA President is pursuing his second tilt at securing enhanced attention from government to the challenges facing the agriculture and agro-processing sectors, among others, the first occurring more than two years ago with Ministers from the previous administration and which had sought to address a wide range of issues across the sectors.
