Executive Director of the Barbados-based regional trade and investment promotion agency, Caribbean Export, Deodat Maraj is due to visit Guyana from Monday January 29 to Tuesday February 1, according to information sent to the Stabroek Business earlier this week from the entity’s headquarters. The notification sent to this newspaper described the purpose of the visit as to afford opportunity for “high-level meetings with officials from the Govern-ment, CARICOM, CARIFORUM, and the European Union.” Simultaneously, the release says that the entity is aiming to “enhance the visibility of the Agency in Guyana” and specifically to ensure that local SME’s “can fully leverage the support we provide to boost the country’s exports and attract investments.” The visit, according to the release, also seeks to “spotlight the upcoming Caribbean Investment Forum scheduled to take place in Guyana in the 2nd quarter of this year.”
Both the visit here by the Caribbean Export’s Executive Director reflect that increased attention that the region is paying to Guyana on account of the country’s meteoric rise to the pinnacle of regional prominence on account of its emergence as a regional petro power. Guyana’s hosting of February’s Carib-bean Investment forum here reflects the region’s overarching recognition of the leadership role that the country is now positioned to play in regional development issues on account of the robustness being bequeathed to the country’s economy from the returns accruing from the oil and gas industry. Caribbean Export, meanwhile, has been steadily building its profile as an advocate for the enhancement of the region’s business and investment bona fides on the international stage. Arguably its most high-profile assignment outside the region up to this time was its mission to Africa from June 5th to 15th last year where the team which included regional entrepreneurs engaged their private and public sector counterparts in talks designed to advance economic ties between the Caribbean and Africa.
