MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT LAUNCH “SERVICES” PROJECT

 

 

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat launched a project for the ‘Development of a Strategy for the Export Promotion of Professional Services’ in Guyana, at a National Workshop, on February 8, 2007, at the Cara Lodge Hotel.

 

The Workshop saw participation from the public and private sector agencies, and the Guyana Coalition of Service Providers (GCSP). The workshop was declared open by Dr. the Hon. Henry Jeffrey, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation. 

 

Other speakers included Prof. Clive Thomas, Chairman of the Guyana Coalition of Service Providers, and Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana; Mr. Nikhil Treebhoohun, Advisor and Head of Trade Section, Commonwealth Secretariat; Mr. Andrew Satney, Trade Adviser and Project Coordinator, Commonwealth Secretariat, and Mr. Neville Totaram, Coordinator, National Advisory Committee on External Negotiations (NACEN), who all stressed the importance of the services sector to Guyana’s development. 

 

In his address, the Minister highlighted the services sector as a key priority in the development of a coherent trade strategy for Guyana, and underscored the following points:

 

(i)          Given the fast pace at which trade in services is currently growing, it is imperative that Guyana maximize the opportunities for growth and development.  To ensure continued growth and expansion of services, the major constraints must be identified and addressed in a strategic way.

 

(ii)          With key agricultural exports being threatened by the persistent challenges to preferential trading arrangements, and labour-intensive manufactured exports facing increased competition, the development of services exports is an essential plank of the country’s future development.

 

(iii)         We need to broaden and deepen, at the same time, our understanding of the Services sector and its potential for the modernization of the national economy.  We need to do so quickly, not only in relation to the rapid developments in the multilateral trading environment, but importantly for the critical issues that need to be addressed in the context of our national development.

 

The project will be implemented between February and March 2007, by the UK-based consultancy firm ‘Kinetic Cubed Limited’, and a CARICOM consultancy firm based in Trinidad and Tobago, ‘Ideas to Business’.

 

  

 

 

Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation

February 9, 2007