–as Bilateral Chamber of Commerce signs MoU with local private sector

THE Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) have pledged to leverage their combined resources to strengthen economic relations between the United States and Guyana.

The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during a ceremony in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday.

The MoU promotes trade and investment across sectors, including infrastructure, healthcare, industry and education.

The agreement, signed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bilateral Chamber of Commerce, Aida Araissi, and Chairman of the PSC, Paul Cheong, is the result of a visit by a trade mission from the Bilateral Chamber of Commerce to Guyana in March 2022.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat; US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch; ExxonMobil executives, Dr. John Ardill and Alistair Routledge, and CEO of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop.

Additional attendees included executives from leading energy, real estate, and technology companies.

Following the signing of the agreement, Araissi said: “We are proud to be ranked as a top producing contractor for the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). Our Bilateral Chamber and USTDA programmes represent over US$100 billion dollars of exported US goods, services, and advanced technologies and we’re looking forward to bringing that kind of expertise to Guyana, to grow the local content.”

The chamber and the PSC will work together in the coming months to organise more trade missions that bring together businesses from the US and Guyana.

Cheong said: “Today is a historic day. We will work on building a partnership that members of both sides will be proud of. This is just the beginning.”

The Bilateral Chamber, located in Houston, Texas, has an expansive network of more than 36,000 subscribers, representing small to large enterprises.

The chamber is a trusted partner to the US Trade and Development Agency, the US Departments of Commerce, State, and Energy, as well as trade development agencies in key markets around the world.