Hollywood, Florida – Members of the trade and investment mission which visits Guyana beginning May 10 were briefed on Thursday, May 5th on the details of the mission as well as brought up to date on the sources of financing for trade and investment available to qualified private sector enterprises.
The pre departure briefing involved presentations outlining the private sector programs of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), EXIM Bank and the Florida Export Finance Corporation under which financing can be accessed.
Participants in the briefing also heard from Guyana’s Honorary Consul for Florida Ramzan Ali and coordinator of the mission, Wesley Kirton.
The mission, put on by Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA’s) CARICOM Outreach Program in conjunction with the Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) will visit Guyana May 10-14 for a series of meetings, on-site visits and other activities including participation in the formal opening of GUYEXPO 2016, the annual national exhibition of Guyanese products and services.
Antonio Lasi, Business Development Officer at the Florida Export Finance Corporation in his presentation explained that companies that import products from a country, in this case Guyana, to which value can be added in Florida and then exported to international markets, can qualify under certain programs of the corporation. This was particularly good news for two of the companies present who are looking to source products in Guyana including coconut water, fruits and pork for further processing in Florida and export to markets around the world.
Guyana’s Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and the Guyana Private Sector Commission (PSC) are working closely with the organizers of the mission in matching the visiting companies with local ones and a number of on-site visits and one-on-one meetings have been arranged. The mission will meet with Guyana’s Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin and with the country’s Finance Minister Winston Jordan. One-on-one meetings for specific companies on the mission are to be held with the ministries of Public Infrastructure, Tourism, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Health, Housing and the Attorney General’s Chambers.
The mission will also receive a briefing from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.
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