–also witness expansion of UMAMI to Qatari Market

PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali and First Lady Arya Ali joined the Guyana Embassy in Doha this week for a special celebration marking the country’s 60th Independence Anniversary.
Held under the theme “Building Guyana’s Global Brand,” the evening brought together diplomats, members of the business community and the Guyanese diaspora for a showcase of the country, its people, and the widening opportunities for Guyanese products and enterprise on the world stage.
The evening’s centrepiece was the launch of UMAMI in the Qatari market, extending the reach of the Guyanese agro-processing brand into the Gulf.
President Ali said the launch marked another important step in expanding the global reach and recognition of Brand Guyana.
The company, whose name is drawn from a Japanese word for “pleasant taste,” has built its reputation on sauces, seasonings and condiments made from locally sourced ingredients. Its expansion into Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year, through a distribution partnership with Massy, was held up by the President as evidence of what local agro-processing incentives can achieve. Doha now marks one of the brand’s furthest markets yet, following earlier moves into Canada and other territories.
The celebration coincided with President Ali’s three-day State Visit to Qatar. The visit was built around expanding Guyana’s economic partnerships across the Gulf, and included a meeting with Mohammed Saif al-Sowaidi, Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Investment Authority, whose sovereign wealth fund is already advancing a major hospitality and real estate project in Georgetown while considering further investment in the country.
Separate talks were held with Qatar’s energy and finance ministers, and the visit’s highest-level engagement came in a meeting with Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, focused on deepening investment ties and economic co-operation between the two nations.
The Doha reception builds on a Diamond Jubilee programme the embassy launched earlier in the year. In May, on the actual anniversary date, the embassy lit up Doha landmarks, including the Torch and Sheraton hotels, in the colours of the Golden Arrowhead, in what was described at the time as the opening event in a calendar of celebrations planned across the year.
Guyana and Qatar have built a young but fast-moving relationship, with the Guyana Embassy in Doha having opened only in 2023.