On July 6th, 2023, members of the Executive Management Commit-tee of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry met with representatives of Esso Explora-tion & Production Guyana Ltd. (ExxonMobil Guyana) to discuss various areas of mutual interest, and opportunities for collaboration.
Present at the meeting on behalf of the GCCI were President of the Chamber, Mr. Kester Hutson, Senior Vice-President, Mr. Richard Rambarran, Junior Vice-President, Mr. Gavin Ramsoondar and Secre-tary, Mrs. Kathy Smith. Present at the meeting on behalf of ExxonMobil Guyana were President of ExxonMobil Guyana Ltd., Mr. Alistair Routledge, Vice President & Business Services Manager, Mr. Phillip Rietema, Socioeconomic Manager, Ms. Susan Scott, Local Content Supervisor, Mrs. Natina Singh, and Local Content Advisor, Ms. Alexis Moniz.
The two parties focused heavily on the areas on which they can work together with the ultimate end goal of optimising the development of the business community, starting with the MSMEs.
One of the areas identified in which the GCCI and ExxonMobil could collaborate to achieve this goal was working towards having, more frequent, targeted, and consistent information sharing sessions between ExxonMobil Guyana and the business community to educate the the latter on matters relevant to operating successfully in Guyana’s oil & gas sector, specifically covering requirements and standards that must be met to work with ExxonMobil Guyana, and to have it done in a more comprehensive manner.
The GCCI also spoke to its priorities for the lifespan of the current Executive Management Committee, mainly focusing on petroleum, and trade and investment, and deepening connections with relevant countries in various ways.
Senior Vice-President Mr. Rambarran stated that the GCCI has already begun this strengthening process with President Hutson’s recent outbound mission to Aberdeen, and with the signing of numerous Memorandums of Understanding with various National Chambers of Commerce.
He also indicated a number of districts the Chamber may seek to host outbound missions to such as New Foundland and Labrador – citing their historical relationships and an interest in learning from their economic transformation, Cuba, India and Ghana due to our recent connections and the opportunities for trade as it relates to Agro-processing, and Houston given the large Guyanese diaspora that exists there, operating in the Petroleum Sector.
President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Mr. Routledge indicated to those present that he believes the GCCI is taking the right steps in ensuring there is continuous business development nationally, and encouraged the team to ensure that the we too are integrally involved in efficient and accurate knowledge sharing through increased collaborations amongst regional chambers.
