— Min. Harmon urges at GCCI annual general meeting

THE Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday held its 128th Annual General Meeting and Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who addressed the gathering, talked up the need for more employment opportunities.

“We still have too high an unemployment rate in Georgetown and many parts of our country. So, sometimes when we choose business models, while it might be efficient and may be appropriate for us to choose the best models, please, I’m asking you sometimes to consider that if a model will involve the employment of more Guyanese people, I will ask that you be on the side of employment of Guyanese people,” Harmon implored.

He told the Duke Lodge audience drawn from the business community that the GCCI is an important member of the private sector which serves as the “collective voice of the business community”.

Since assuming office in 2015, the government has set out to create a policy framework that ensures a level playing field between foreign and domestic enterprises as well as small and large businesses.
An Automated Systems for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) is set to be fully operational by January 2019.

Also through collaboration between the government and the GCCI, Guyana’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business continues to improve.

“It is important that organisations such as the GCCI hold the government and the municipal government, their feet to the fire where these matters are concerned,” he said and urged the chamber that as more businesses become interested in Guyana, not to lose sight of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to citizens.

The GCCI serves as the premier voice of the business community in Georgetown.

GCCI President Deodat Indar reported that the chamber recorded a net surplus of G$5.609 M in 2017, a relatively stable position compared to the $5.700 M it registered in 2016.
Revenues for the chamber in 2017 totalled $72.450 M while expenses amounted to G$70.293M. In 2016, revenues amounted to $35.297M with expenses reaching G$32.571 M.

Indar said future revenue stream of the GCCI looks promising as it hopes to increase its membership which now stands at 200.

Leading up to Guyana becoming a major oil and gas producer, the chamber has taken the responsibility to ensure Guyanese benefit from the sector by promoting local private sector development in and around the industry.

This, the GCCI president believes, will help to strengthen economic development and guard against “the Dutch disease” or negative impact on one or more sectors of the economy due to the sharp inflow of foreign currency to another.

In addition, the GCCI hopes to continue forging strategic partnerships between local and foreign companies to aid in the promotion of private sector development in Guyana.
Several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed with international associations geared at stimulating business partnerships.

“It is my fervent hope that this acts as a catalyst to private sector growth and by extension, economic growth by structuring trade, facilitating technology and skills transfer as well as allowing access to new markets,” Indar said.

The GCCI is in the process of raising funds to re-build its secretariat at Waterloo Street to improve provision of service to Guyanese.