By Caribbean News Global 
TORONTO, Canada – President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali is confident that Guyana is well placed to attract investors and that government will enable investment, delivering the keynote address at the launch of the Canada-Guyana Chamber of Commerce at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, on Friday, December 4, 2020.
Canadian – Guyanese private sector
“The world is expressing confidence in Guyana’s economy. The Canadian private sector joining with Guyanese private sector is expressing confidence in the economy. The government has to ensure we work closely with the private sector in realising that confidence,” president Ali added, “I want to assure you that the government of Guyana would not resist but assist foreign investors. There is no point in saying we are a part of a global environment, of understanding we are competing in a global environment, of understanding that we are part of a global network but at the same time, do not recognise that we are also part of global competition.
“The nature of the economy in the next three years, the structure of the economy in the next three years, the requirement of the economy in the next three years, note I am not speaking about oil and gas, that is not the economy, the economy is much more substantial than oil and gas […] For that, we require people and there is where we have a natural population that we can go back to and that is the diaspora.”
Opportunities for investment
“The government’s role is to facilitate the growth and development of businesses,” said president Ali, “the private sector needs to be more innovative and become partners who are capable of managing the new economy.”
In that regard, the creation of the ‘secondary city’ is a “near term” plan that will create tremendous investment opportunities, including the creation of an “agro-industrial zone” and tax incentives for new investments.
“Guyana is a safe place to invest and will not put hurdles in the way of potential investors. The time is right for investors to be attracted to Guyana and to capitalise on the opportunities the economy has to offer,” president Ali said.
Political inclusion
Observing the need for greater political inclusion in the socio-economic development of Guyana by former presidents of Guyana, president Ali formally invited on Friday, current vice president Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, David Granger, Donald Ramotar and Samuel Hinds, to participate in a discussion on the country’s development, to convene on December 15, 2020.
“It will be an open floor meeting where we will bring together all the former presidents. I think it is an opportunity for us to continue to share ideas, generate ideas, talk about how we see Guyana’s development and to work out a model and a framework on how we engage on the future and how we have continuous contributions,” president Ali said.
- With file by Department of Public Information (DPI)
