Ten sponsors yesterday formally offered their support for the inaugural Coconut Festival, handing over cheques at simple ceremony, as the date for festival approaches.
Digicel Guyana, Sterling Products Ltd, Suriname Airways, New Guyana Marketing Corporation, Massy Group of Companies, National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute, Pomeroon Oil Mills, GO-Invest, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Farfan and Mendes all made donations towards the hosting of a successful festival.
Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority Indranauth Haralsingh thanked the sponsors, while urging that the festival be looked at as a platform where expertise on the coconut industry can be shared through technical presentations from other international representatives.
Similar sentiments were shared by Director General of Tourism Donald Sinclair, who alluded to the scheduled presence of exhibitors from as far as Switzerland and India. Other delegations set to take part in the festival are said to be coming from Barbados, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica, Suriname and the US Virgin Islands.
According to the Director General, the official launch is set to take place on October 16 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre and will see the unveiling of the festival’s “icon, which is expected to take the form of a monument that has been dubbed Lady Coco.” This, is said to be in tribute to the role of women in the development of the local coconut industry.
Additionally, as the festival winds down, there will be an awards ceremony to honour those who would have made contributions to the development of the industry over the years. Awards will also be given out to the winners of the coconut painting competition.
The festival, which is being held under the theme ‘Awakening a Sleeping Giant’ is a collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Business, Department of Tourism and private stakeholders. It will be officially opened to the public from October 21 to October 23 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.
