WEEKS following another successful International Building Exposition, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, highlighted some of the impacts the event has had on the business community and Guyanese in general.

This year’s theme, “Building on the Foundation of Sustainability and Unity,” was created because it is believed that the government, under President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s leadership, has laid the foundation for the development of Guyana.

She said, “We are building a country that will be sustainable for the future, and we are doing this in a way that unites the country. So that was the evolution of the theme that we adopted for this year.”
In highlighting some of the objectives of the expo, Minister Rodrigues said the first is to ensure the continuation of the housing drive, whereby, at every expo, house lots and certificates of title are distributed.
She noted that that Building Expo is not just business oriented or for the private sector, but for Guyanese to attend and benefit greatly from the various initiatives. The expo saw approximately 2,000 individuals becoming proud landowners through the ‘Dream Realised’ housing drive.

Another objective is to provide small, medium and large-scale businesses with the opportunity to exhibit their products and services where they are exposed to a large audience. Some 500 businesses were able to do so.
The event also saw an influx of several foreign companies, with this year’s expo having the largest participation from international companies.

“We had 28 international companies from different countries around the world, from as far as Africa and India, including Indonesia, and around the Caribbean. And their minds were blown. I personally visited over 90 per cent of the exhibitors there to garner their feedback on how their experience was at the expo, and the response from the public in terms of their businesses and they were really surprised, especially those countries that came on for the first time,” she stated.

Also coming out of the expo was the historic approval of a number of loans by the local banking sector to Guyanese.

Minister Rodrigues remarked, “So, the aim of the expo is not to make a profit but to ensure at least, that it can pay for itself, and I can say confidently that every year it has been able to sustain itself.”

Moreover, Minister Rodrigues said the International Building Expo allowed the government to display all the work it has been doing, over the last four years, in the housing sector.