President Donald Ramotar has called for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) to be more proactive in seeking out opportunities and not to make excuses of impediments as the country seeks to attract investment in both traditional and new sectors.
Speaking at an informal discussion during a Go-Invest retreat held in the eastern hall of the Guyana International Conference Centre yesterday, Ramotar also said that Guyana needs to relook at its investment incentive regimes in a bid to become a more attractive destination.
He told the chairman, board members and staff of Go-Invest and other stakeholders that the agency needs to seek out new types of investment to match the wave of new industries that are creating wealth and jobs. “Go-Invest must come up with ideas in the new sectors and must deal with the impediments,” said President Ramotar. “A lot of areas are still yet unexplored,” he said.
He said the issue of integrity is integral to the success of the organisation as while many persons in society make allegations for their own purposes, some of the issues are real. “If people lose confidence in any organisation because of integrity, then it becomes difficult to function and get back that trust,” he said.
“Investment is the lifeblood of any economy… Go-Invest still remains relevant but it seems to be too dependent on who is heading it,” he said. “I would like to see it more institutionally driven and become a [stronger organisation],” he said.
The President said Go-Invest was not proactive enough as it depended on persons to come with proposals before acting. He said too that the organisation did not have enough linkages with sector organisations and agencies.
Chairman of the Board of Go-Invest Keith Burrowes said while he agrees that the agency needs to be more proactive, it also needs the kind of data that it could share with investors. “We need to have sector profiles and this is something that we are working on,” said Burrowes. He said too that there needs to be a shift of focus from Go-Invest to investment in Guyana. “We are looking to set up databases [by which] we could share information with various agencies,” he said.
Burrowes pointed out also that Go-Invest is starved for resources and its limited budget of $60 million, it is further pruned down when it goes to the Office of the President for approval.
Go-Invest at the retreat also finalised its annual report for 2010 and 2011 – the first annual report ever prepared by Go-Invest – and established clear targets for 2013 with regard to the entity supporting the investment climate in Guyana.
