WITH countries in the region making aggressive efforts to woo investors, a lot will be expected of the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office For Investment (Go-Invest), who will be tasked with expanding the local investment portfolio. The application process for the top post recently concluded and a shortlist of the best applications put forward by Ram and Mcrae, an independent firm reviewing the applications, will be sent to the new Go-Invest Board.
The Board will scrutinise the applicants shortlisted, and the best among the lot will be selected to replace Keith Burrowes, who vacated the post a few months ago.
“The new CEO will have to be a very hardworking individual,” Mr Gaskin said, pointing out that countries, including those in the region are on a campaign to woo investors, and he/she will have to compete with these persons.
Countries the world over have been hiring the best to function as promotion officers, and according to the Minister, Guyana will be doing no different.
“We will have to attract more investors to Guyana,” he said, while pointing out that “a lot will be expected from the new CEO”.
Aside from appointing a new CEO, the premier investment agency is expected to undergo major reform with strong attention being placed on fairness, transparency, good governance and aggressive promotion of the agency, both locally and abroad.
Minister Gaskin had express dissatisfaction with the way Go-Invest operates, more particularly the level of investment it has attracted over the last decade
To increase and promote investment here, Guyana will be moving to ensure Go-Invest has a vibrant presence in all the major countries where it has diplomatic representation. It will also establish investment desks at all its foreign missions.
“We can’t sit back and wait for people to show an interest in Guyana, we have to go out there and sell Guyana as a venue for doing business and as a venue for making profits. The agency responsible for doing that is primarily Go-Invest. We need to be strategic; this is something that we will be working towards to achieve over the next five years,” Mr Gaskin had told the Guyana Chronicle.
Under the former Administration, the handling of Go-Invest was criticised as all investors did not go through the investment agency.
The then Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) also engaged investors.
There have also been allegations of Government interference in Go-Invest. Instead of some investors’ applications being processed by the investment agency and other lawful agencies, the potential investors went to higher authorities and instructions were then passed down to Go-Invest and other agencies to see these applications through.
The new government has since moved to stop this way of doing business and Go-Invest is now the first stop for all investors.