says Captain Gerry Gouveia Jr

WITH the aim of advancing the country’s economy, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, has remained resolute in his commitment to foster better relationships between the private and public sectors.

Taking into consideration that Guyana is a capitalist democracy, a representative of the Roraima Group of Companies and the Private Sector, Captain Gerry Gouveia Jr., explained, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, that the role of the government is to create an enabling environment to facilitate the private sector so that they can develop the economy.

According to Gouveia Jr., the private sector is “beyond grateful” to President Ali and his government for understanding and recognising the significant role that the private sector plays in any economy, especially since Guyana has one of the fastest-growing ones in the world, considering where Guyana was from 2015 to where it is now, Gouveia Jr. said.

He continued: “As a private sector, we are the ones who will be creating the opportunities for the people, and I am happy to relate that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government has been exceptionally facilitative, and they have been pushing the private sector to our limits so that they can get the best out of us, which will ultimately benefit the people of Guyana. They are also doing a fantastic job of guiding us in the diversification of the economy.”

As a member of the private sector commission, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and an aircraft operator, Gouveia Jr. was given the chance to travel internationally with the President’s delegation on some of his trips.

According to him, “by visiting these countries, we in the private sector are given a first-hand opportunity to interact and network with the representatives that are there. While at these conferences, we are selling the opportunities that our country has to offer, and we are also learning from them so that we can apply or incorporate them in Guyana. These people have all types of questions, and as we answer them, you can see in their eyes the interest that they have in our country, and many have expressed their interest to either invest or visit.”

Gouveia said, “It’s one thing to have representatives from Qatar come to us; it’s another thing for us to go to Qatar. It is beautiful when we can see with our own eyes what they are doing so that we can be inspired by it. Not only do you get to network with the people or to see business being done on a different level, but you also get to learn about processes, and we also get to learn about what is possible.”

Based on what they have seen on their visits to China, Dubai, and the other countries, Gouveia Jr. believes that Guyana has a long way to go to be considered the “Dubai of the Caribbean.”

However, he related it will and can happen under President Ali’s leadership and vision.

“The good news is that President Ali is doing an excellent job of leading and inspiring us, the private sector, and the people of Guyana in that direction. We in the private sector, with the government’s input, are getting the opportunity to strategically work on developing Guyana by seeing what works in the more developed countries. The idea is to create an economic free zone, make international attraction attractive, and work towards developing more bilateral arrangements between these international organisations that will allow Guyana to open up, and those are some of the things that we will do so that we can be considered to be the Dubai of the Caribbean,” he explained.

Finally, Gouveia Jr. said, “Getting on board with what the government is doing is simply saying that we are on board with a government that is trying to help, and that is shown through the millions of dollars that are pumped into the different sectors. Whether it’s in education, health, or agriculture, they are creating employment for the people. That’s long-term, and we in the private sector recognise and support that. The President isn’t giving away free money; what he does is create an opportunity to give someone a contract so that they can help others. Every member of the delegation takes pride in looking and listening to the way President Ali represents Guyana, and that motivates and inspires us as the private sector to do more for our people.”