Florida businesses to explore Guyana market

South Florida Guyana Investment mission launches May 10th

Continuing their efforts to promote trade between South Florida and the Caribbean, the Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce will be leading a Trade and Investment Mission to Guyana, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, May 10. A select group of Caribbean-American business persons and investors in South Florida will be exploring opportunities in mining, eco-tourism and related hospitality development, agribusiness, clean energy, and manufacturing.

This trade and investment mission is timed to coincide with Guyana’s national exhibition of products, services and trade opportunities which opens on May 12. Members will meet with top private sector and government officials, including Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, as well as representatives of the Private Sector Commission, to discuss potential areas for business development.

"Specific sector meetings will be arranged based on specific interests,” says coordinator of the mission, Wesley Kirton, in a press release. The mission, put on by Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA) CARICOM Outreach Program in conjunction with the newly established Guyanese-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc., is intended to serve as a platform that facilitates networking with the key stakeholders and high-level decision-makers in Guyana.

The Guyana Consulate in Florida, said Kirton, is also assisting with arrangements.
“We have also written to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat for a meeting, since many of the companies want to get a better understanding of arrangements for both intra-regional trade and preferential access to international markets for products from Guyana and other CARICOM member states,” said Kirton.

In February, the two organisations hosted the CARICOM/CUBA/FLORIDA Trade and Investment Conference in Miramar, which focused primarily on investment opportunities in the agriculture and agribusiness sector. CARICOM imports almost $5 billion (US) in food products annually and at that conference, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) identified a number of investment opportunities in this sector.