Local entrepreneurs are set to benefit from a Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) initiative that seeks educate them on what needs to be done in order to introduce their products into the US market.
A GACC release yesterday stated that a conference and webinar – `Effective strategies for exporting goods and services from Guyana to the United States’ – is to be held today from 9 am to 12 noon.
The conference/webinar is open to all interested entrepreneurs who can register free of cost at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fDxRZSTfRPOnudUT_zEJ6Q
The event is hosted by the US-headquartered Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) and is intended to bring Guyanese entrepreneurs up to date with the requirements, procedures and standards required for legal entry of products and services into the US.
According to the release, the conference will bring together key government and private sector officials from both the US and Guyana and will address issues including agreements under which Guyanese products can enter the US duty-free. Also on the agenda are products that enjoy quota allocations; phytosanitary and other requirements such as packaging and labelling; guidelines for guarding against contamination of shipments with illegal substances; strategies for identifying markets including buyers and distributors for various products and services, including those of the creative industries; and ways to structure legal arrangements and agreements to ensure exporters are fully paid for their products and that mechanisms are in place to confirm reports of post shipment losses.
Speakers at the virtual event will include, Dr Barton Clarke, Director of the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI); Paola Isaac, Economic Development Specialist, International Trade, Broward County Florida Office of Economic & Small Business Development; Vishnu Mahadeo of the Richmond Hill, Queens, New York, Economic Development Council (EDC); and trade attorney Rishma Sooknandan-Eckert. Representatives of the US Department of Agriculture, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and US Customs and Border Protection, are also scheduled to make presentations.
Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has been invited to deliver opening remarks while the conference will be declared open by Nan Fife, Director of the Office for the Caribbean at the US Department of State. Ramesh Dookhoo, Secretary of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) of Guyana, and Bryan Clarke of the Main Street Artists Group have been confirmed as speakers.
GACC stated that the virtual event is part of the ongoing effort to promote trade and investment between Guyana and the US, and is a follow up to participation last October of more than 20 small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs from Guyana free of cost, facilitated by the GACC, in the annual Florida International Trade Conference and Expo (FITCE 2019). Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic there will be no FITCE this year, the release added.