Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ron Webster said that Minister Irfaan Ali in his capacity as Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce invited the heads of private sector bodies to a meeting to discuss their submissions to the 2013 national budget.
The meeting took place on Friday at the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce. Webster called this a preliminary meeting and by no means the end of the engagement between the private sector and government.
In addition to Webster, representing the private sector were Ramesh Dookhoo, Michael Correia, Clinton Williams and Clinton Urling, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“It was a fruitful meeting during which we discussed matters of trade and infrastructure,” Webster said.
But asked whether the PSC raised the issue of the need for cooperation between the government and opposition, Webster said that it did not. “We didn’t specifically raise that because we were invited by the Minister to put our budget proposals forward,” said Webster.
He said that the private sector will also be discussing their proposals with the opposition parties “but we have to get our numbers in first.”
Webster said that in the private sector submissions, they raised concerns about housing, the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the need to develop the port of Georgetown to accommodate larger vessels, among others. “But we still have to put numbers to them,” he said.
In an earlier interview with Stabroek News, Webster expressed the need for the government to meet with the opposition on the budget, saying that further collisions and cuts to the budget could hurt the private sector.
At that time he said that the PSC will play its part in expediting and assisting to ensure that there is an understanding among the parties about the importance of collaborating on the budget.
“I would have thought that the parliamentarians on both sides of the House would be looking at the things that affect their membership and start putting together ideas which can be discussed with the finance minister before the preparation of the budget,” Webster said in October.
“I really think that that should be the focus at this point in time. The budget preparation takes a while and we have only got a few months left. Really, in net time, you probably only have three months to get all the documentation together, get them into the Ministry of Finance because the Minister has to start preparing his budget. Internally, there is always the pecking order – who gets what and so forth,” he said.
“I think the way we will probably start it is by involving the parliamentarians in our vision; that’s the only way the private sector can expand, if people are paid sufficient wages and salaries, so that they have money to spend, and this creates new jobs and helps to broaden the private sector,” he said during the interview.
