Managing Director of the recently launched Guyana Logistics & Support Services Inc. (GLASS) John Lewis has told Stabroek Business that the privately-run one-stop agency set up to facilixtate official transactions and offer a range of services to both local and foreign investors is pleased with its relationships with state-run entities with which it has to interface on clients’ behalf.
“It is a matter of doing things by the book, of following laid down procedures,” the former Chief Executive Officer of the Berbice Mining Enterprise (BERMINE) told Stabroek Business.
Local private sector officials as well as overseas investors have been critical of what they say is the excessive “red tape” associated with doing business with state agencies. Some agencies have been criticized for being slow in processing transactions while others, including the Customs and Trade Administration have been accused of demanding kickbacks from persons seeking the services which they offer. Lewis says, however, that he believes that “it is often a matter of approach. Engaging state entities has to do with understanding rules and regulations and our approach at GLASS is about studying those regulations and engaging the institutions professionally.
Lewis told Stabroek Business that GLASS which is currently providing a range of services for clients in the oil and minerals industries seeks to provide “a genuine one-stop shop for its local and foreign clients.” Lewis said that GLASS can facilitate a range of services ranging from facilities for personnel visiting and working in Guyana to business-related transactions including the acquisition of Industrial Development Agreements (IDA’s).
Lewis told Stabroek Business that much of the marketing of GLASS was being done through international agencies including embassies of countries whose companies do business in Guyana.
Meanwhile Lewis told Stabroek Business that GLASS is seeking to further enhance its capacity by developing business relationships with entities in the region that already possess proven capacity in service areas that are key to the company’s operations. “The oil industry is a good example of an area where we would be keen to establish relationships since we have clients in that industry,” Lewis said.
