Local business tycoon Brian Tiwari, Managing Director of B.K. International, is teaming up with Canadian-based Guyanese Bashkar Sharma, publisher of the Equality News, to set up an office in Guyana which will contribute to the editorial and advertising content of the 40-page Toronto weekly newspaper.

Sharma said he’s all excited, ready and rearing to go, and plans kicking off the initiative to coincide with his 66th birth anniversary come February 21 while in Guyana.
The objective he says is to become trail blazers and contribute positively towards selling and improving Guyana’s image among the 350,000 residents in Toronto and further afield.
Triple celebration

And so for him, it will be a triple celebration – his birth anniversary, the opening of the office and Mashramani 2017 in Guyana. While the newspaper will continue to be published in Toronto, the office to be set up at BKI’s holdings in Water Street, South Cummingsburg, will be under the jurisdiction of Tiwari, with its day to day operations overseen by editor Ras Leon Saul. The local office will have responsibility for putting together editorial content, editing and proof-reading of articles and ads from Guyana.

Promoting Tourism
Both Sharma and Tiwari have expressed concern over the fact that there are so many good and positive things happening in Guyana, yet crime continues to dominate the front pages and take centre stage in many of the local newspapers.

The partners said such an approach is not good for the image of ‘our country’, since it immediately serves as a deterrent for both the diaspora wishing to return home on vacation or wishing to invest in Guyana’s development.

“The aim,” the duo contends, “is to revolutionize the approach to selling Guyana, with a determination to disseminate positive messages which will attest to Guyana’s potential as an attractive destination for investment and trade; to make known its potential for becoming a world class oil-producing country; and as an open economy with a welcoming and enabling trade environment and rewarding possibilities.”
Equally so, the present approach to reportage, they claim, does not go down well with tourists wishing to visit Guyana to experience its amazing eco-tourism potential: the majestic Kaieteur Falls; the natural beauty and charm of our flora and fauna, pristine jungles and rich wild life; as well as heritage buildings such St. George’s Cathedral (the world’s tallest wooden building); City Hall; The Brickdam Cathedral; the floating Demerara Harbour Bridge; and other such prized heritage architecture.

Sharma had just weeks ago, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, remarked: “In Canada there are 350,000 Guyanese living in Ontario alone, let alone main-stream Canadians wanting to know more about Guyana, but sadly there is little information on Guyana’s tourism product, with the diaspora being literally starved of this vital information.”
He added: “I have seen over the years, many beautiful world class tourism publications [coming out of Guyana], but in Ontario Canada where there are over 5,000 travel agencies very little is available at these agencies, which is very sad,” Sharma told the Chronicle. He, at that time, proposed that a Guyana Tourism Board be set up in Toronto and promised to offer whatever help he could.

The ‘Equality’ Newspaper, a source of Guyanese-Caribbean news, has been in circulation for the last 35 years. It services 3,500 outlets in Ontario, Canada; has an average circulation of 45,000 copies weekly, with 1.4 Million hits every week on equalitynews.ca