Two separate tilts at trying to persuade the Government of Guyana to help meet some of the costs associated with ensuring that a representative group of local agro-processors and craftsmen and women participate in this year’s Seventh Annual Florida International Trade Fair and Cultural Expo (FITCE) which will be held on October 19th and 20th have been turned down.
After written communication to the Minister of Tourism received a negative response from the Ministry of Business, a subsequent meeting was held between that ministry and Director of the Florida-based Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) Melinda Gordon, which yielded the same result, as far as we were told. The GACC is a US-based group that has been known to provide robust support for the participation of home-based Guyanese businesses at the FITCE, including the negotiating of display booths for them at the event, free of cost.
As far as this newspaper is aware there was no specificity, in terms of the extent of the help being sought from government, but rather, it was a matter of sitting down and working out the various options that might have been available to meaningfully subsidize those small business persons who were prepared to make individual investments of their own to be at the Florida event. Put differently, it was a kind of every-little-bit-helps approach by the GACC to the government.
After her meeting with the Ministry of Business Ms, Gordon, though she declined to discuss the details with this newspaper, expressed a measure of disappointment over its outcome. Here, it is apposite to make the point that at a time when what is believed to be the direction in which the country’s oil-driven economy appears to be headed, it would appear to be very much in the interest of the country that government treat seriously with those areas of the economy that have the potential to attract external markets. Agro processing, unquestionably, is one of those. Indeed, being herself a Guyanese, Ms Gordon told the Stabroek News quite a mouthful about the customary market response to Guyanese products at previous FITCE events even as she posited a number of constructive recommendations for its enhancement.
Of course, there can be no question that the country’s agro-processing sector has had a standout impact locally, defying the formidable odds thrown at it by COVID-19 particularly, to stage an impressive return to the productive fore at major product promotion events held earlier this year.
No one, including the government, had anything less than positive to say about the sheer determination of the surge made by the country’s agro-processors and craftsmen and women at events like this year’s Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association’s uncapped event at the National Stadium and the Government of Guyana sponsored Agri-Investment Forum and Expo held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre in May. If, therefore, there was the requirement of our agro-processors and craftspeople having to make a case for government’s support for the country’s representation at FITCE 2022, then a substantial case had long been made, arising particularly out of the resilience that those sectors demonstrated over the last two years. More than that, while no one is suggesting that the oil and gas earnings provide justification for profligate spending, surely, timely and well thought out financial interventions that are driven by the country’s agreed development direction are the way to go.
The government’s apparent turning down of a recommendation from the GACC that it provide a subsidy for Guyanese small businesses, particularly in the agro processing sector, seeking to participate in the FITCE clearly requires some kind of explanation. This is particularly necessary since the growth of the agro-processing sector is not only hinged to Guyana’s leadership of the push for regional food security but along with the craft sector is inextricably linked to poverty alleviation in Guyana.
Government’s apparent decision therefore to not subsidize local participation in the event is regrettable. Not just because there appears to be no good reason why it seems disinclined to provide even a modest contribution, but should it decide to hold fast to its position it would, in effect, be flying in the face of a recommendation made by the GACC, an organization that has committed itself to looking out for the interests of Guyanese products in a potentially lucrative market. Indeed, it appears very much like a case of the government shooting itself in the foot.
