At SEBRAE Fair…
A DELEGATION of Guyanese businessmen left Georgetown last Sunday night for Boa Vista, Brazil, to take part in a five-day entrepreneurial fair being hosted by  SEBRAE, the acronym for the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Organisation.
The exposition starts today and continues through November 15, with the aim of helping micro entrepreneurs from Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia develop ideas and opportunities to forge closer ties with each other, in order to improve their competitiveness in agriculture, business, information technology, culture and science.
The Private Sector Commission (PSC), GO-Invest, small businesses and the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) are among the entities that will be represented at the exhibition.
An official of GO-Invest said commodities such as pharmaceuticals and seafoods are some that will be targeted and Guyanese attending will seek to clarify phytosanitary requirements for merchandise entering Brazil from Guyana.
Another issue to be addressed is the apparent current lopsided nature of trade between Guyana and Brazil, which, reportedly, reduced from $176.7M in 2008 to a record low of $50M in 2009, despite the opening of the Takutu Bridge linking the two countries.
Those involved said cross border trading and investment activities that should have derived from the government-to-government Partial Scope Agreement, signed in 2001 and extended in 2008, together with the recently commissioned Takutu Bridge, are still way below expectation.
The view, locally, is that Brazil, with a population of 192 million, ranks high among selected countries which can provide trade and investment opportunities for private sector companies in Guyana.
It has been emphasised that the establishment of solid economic, social and other ties with that neighbouring republic, which has the tenth largest economy in the world, will certainly provide a tremendous economic boost for Guyana.
Brazil, at the quarterly luncheon of Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) in early October, invited the Guyanese commercial sector to form the Guyana caravan to the SEBRAE Fair.
The invitation was issued by Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Luiz Gilberto Seixas de Andre, who said his Government’s hopes for cooperation between the two countries are to increase and achieve a better bilateral trade balance.
It was pointed out, then, that the SEBRAE 2010 show will afford face-to-face communication and exchange of ideas amongst Guyanese, Brazilian, Venezuelan and Colombian business representatives.
Those who left Sunday, led by GO-Invest, travelled by road to Lethem, from where they crossed to Parque Anaua, the Boa Vista fair venue.
Another set of local businessmen are expected to travel to Lethem by air today and it was disclosed that eight booths have been allocated to the Guyanese, at a cost of US$1,000, with one to be used by the Guyana Government.
The SEBRAE Fair is being looked at to galvanise the local private sector into taking advantage of the offers by the economic giant to the South, Brazil.