The 118-year-old Georgetown Chamber Commerce and Industry (GCCI) held its Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday night and its president called for some form of national service to tackle crime.
The event, held at Le Meridien Pegasus, saw wide attendance from the business sector and a number of government officials, including by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
GCCI President Carl Morgan said there should “not just [be] detection and apprehension” in relation to crime; as the time has come to resuscitate some form of national service to get unemployed youths off the streets. Crime, he said, remains a concern for property and personal security and he noted that there seems to be no abating of the drug trade. Guyana remains a major transshipment point, as evident in local and overseas bust.
Morgan also called on the government to give back some of the revenues collected from the Value Added Tax (VAT), in the form of income and corporate taxes and he welcomed the government’s move to give relief to pensioners.
Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington in his address asked the businesses what investments they have made to ensure they can do business in the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).
For example, he said there are limited arrangements for cross listing (listing on various regional stock exchanges) and trading of shares, and these are important aspects to building a regional capital market. Because of the family firm culture in the region, Carrington said, some 152 firms are listed and approximately 10% are cross listed and traded. In 2005, the listed companies accounted for 50% of the total market capitalization, and these were mainly large companies.
The Secretary-General told the businesses that work is being done to establish a protocol on government procurement. When this programme is launched, he said, competition would be the name of the game since businesses from one member state will be able to tender for government contracts in another.
Awards
Receiving the New Busi-ness Achievement Award, in recognition of a company’s significant investment and growth over the past five years were GEM Magazine and John Lewis Styles. The Chamber’s Award for recognition of continuous participation and commitment to the Chamber in 2007 went to Guyoil and the Corporate Citizenship Award went to Roraima Airways Incorporat-ed. Receiving the Public Service Award of Excellence was the Police Immigration Department. The GCCI Presidential Award in recognition of a company’s outstanding contribution in the areas of business success, innovation, customer and community service went to Church’s Chicken. While Christopher Fernandes of John Fernandes Ltd received the Life Time Achievement Award in recognition of an individual’s outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions to the business community and wider society.
