The level of transformation that has been taking place in Berbice as a result of the enabling business environment facilitated by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration was acknowledged by the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association as it honoured those who have made sterling contributions to the county over the years.

Low interest rates on small business loans have been encouraging for budding Berbice entrepreneurs; technical and vocational training has been building the human resource capacity for certain skills in demand while the provisions in this year’s national budget for pensioners, first time home owners and tax payers were regarded as excellent initiatives.
Region Six Chairman David Armogan who attended the award ceremony said politics and business are interdependent on each other since Government’s investment in infrastructure facilitates the smooth flow of business in the country.
Among them is cheap and reliable electrify which President Donald Ramotar told the chamber, will be facilitated through the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, and the public private partnership that enabled construction of the Berbice River Bridge
As the closest point to neighbouring Suriname and major oil explorations offshore, Berbicians are looking forward to the announcement of a discovery, and the improvement of trade relations with plans to bridge the Corentyne River.
President Ramotar who was a special invitee at the annual dinner and award ceremony Saturday evening in Albion, told executives of the chamber and its affiliate, the Association of Regional Chambers and Commerce that the bridging of the Corentyne river is awaiting the Inter American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) feasibility study.
In August last year Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and her Surinamese counterpart Mr. Winston Lackin, had announced the move to write the IDB for financing of the feasibility study for the bridge and advertising for contractors.
The two foreign ministers had met following a prior engagement that year between President Ramotar and Surinamese President Desi Bouterse in Suriname to discuss the importance of constructing the bridge across the Corentyne River, to among other things enhance economic relations between the two countries.
The Berbice chamber’s eagerness about the new initiative is based on the same potential benefits, but also more importantly its concern about border smuggling which it said has been undermining trade arrangements.
The phenomenon has again vindicated President Ramotar’s case against corrupt practices which he said should be “nipped in the bud” with the help of the business community in particular.
Also with the demands for quality and other benchmarks in trade relations, the call was made for the adoption of a traceability system and the installation of the requisite technology to support such a system in Guyana.
The call made by the Private Sector Commission’s Chairman Ron Webster comes after last month’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Guyana and Haiti on the utilisation of the Haitian National Traceability System in Guyana.
The system articulated by Haitian President Michel Martelly will allow Guyana’s agricultural sector to trace produce to its origin, guarantee the quality and standard of agricultural produce for export by generating bar codes, defined benchmarks for processing and packaging of agricultural products, as well as assist in the reliable national mapping on the production potential and the results of the harvest.
Sugar has been one of Guyana’s major export commodities, but with its performance over past few years not being what was expected, even with investment in the Skeldon Sugar Factory, this has persuaded the move to mechanisation, President Ramotar told members of the Berbice Chamber. (GINA)