Currently in the process of enhancing its trade/business relations regionally and internationally to complement its rapidly increasing profile realized on account of Guyana’s new-found status as a major global oil producer, the Guyana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is preoccupied with, among other things, the strengthening of business ties, including trade partnerships, not least with countries in the hemisphere. On Thursday November 21, the GCCI met with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency, APEX-Brazil, to discuss the further strengthening of trade partnerships between the two countries.
A November 22 GCCI media release disclosed that the meeting had taken place and that the agenda focused on gave notice of meeting between itself and APEX Brazil to discuss the further strengthening of the long-existing but at times sluggish trading relationship between the countries. The Chamber’s disclosure on the meeting asserted that, setting aside discussions on trade opportunities between the two countries, the engagement also discussed areas of possible collaboration in the area of skills exchange between Guyana and Brazil. Among the named members of the visiting Apex-Brazil delegation were Market Intelligence Analyst, Igor Gomes and Foreign Trade Analyst, Pedro Piá who were accompanied at the engagements in Georgetown by Brazil’s Commercial Specialist in the Trade and Investments Section of the Embassy of Brazil in Guyana, Ms. Terrianna Selby. At the Guyana end of the table were Senior Vice President of the local Chamber Kathy Smith, Executive Member and Councillor Richard Rambarran; Councillor and Chairman of the Trade and Investment Committee Devon Seeram, and Councillor Rayad Boyce.
Part of the mission, according to the GCCI, was to gather information on the business culture in Guyana including the “logistics chains, regulatory environment, distribution networks, consumption patterns, and the perception of Guyanese consumers regarding Brazilian products,” according to the release issued by the GCCI. The visiting Brazilian team reportedly committed to sharing the findings with the GCCI officials with Brazilian companies in order to raise awareness of the possibilities for enterprises in Guyana ‘doing business’ with their Brazilian counterparts. The goal of the encounter, according to the release on the visit, is to “strengthen the bilateral trade relationship between Guyana and Brazil.” The release also alluded to Brazil examining the possibility of securing inventory “for the oil and gas and construction sectors, ceramic tiles, wooden furniture, and pre-packed and processed food.”