Business

Group eyeing opportunities in local petroleum, ethanol industries – CEO The Neal and Massy Group of Companies  has linked the expansion of its range of services in Guyana to the country’s “national growth horizons” and is geared to make interventions in key  areas of the country’s economic expansion programme, according to Group Chief Executive Officer Deo Persaud.

`The website initiative can be seen as the start of a process through which the Chamber is seeking to reinvent itself’ The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is to launch a website before year end and Chamber President Chandradat Chintamani says that the new platform is “part of a broader range of services which the Chamber is seeking to provide for its members, the local business community as a whole and potential investors.”

Last week the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Guyana Bankers Association (GBA) organized a forum to discuss with the local business community the various services which commercial banks can provide that offer an alternative to cash transactions.

Real challenges to agricultural entrepreneurial initiative …Transportation and communication Historical episodes on commercial agricultural activity in the Upper Berbice River sub region, and the Intermediate Savannahs have endorsed the inherent difficulties of physical access and communication links.  

…if Chamber, Customs plan works The seasonal difficulties experienced by businesses seeking to expedite customs  clearance for goods during the Christmas season could be significantly reduced this year if recent discussions between the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Customs and Trade Administration (CTA) hold good.

Too little has been done up to this time to educate the business community and the country as a whole about the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe and the various ways in which it will impact on the country,” according to President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) President Chandradat Chintamani.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 270’s trading results showed consideration of $8,576,098 from 320,404 shares traded in 13 transactions as compared to session 269 which showed consideration of $15,106,832 from 385,390 shares traded in 7 transactions. 

Says region’s economic diplomacy has lost its passion, commitment The acceptance by the region of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe in its present state is a reflection of a loss of the “passion, commitment and vision” which was so evident in Caribbean economic diplomacy during the decade of the seventies, according to former Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal.

We can if we get an international licence – Dean The continuing telecommunications monopoly by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) continues to limit the growth of DIGICEL in terms of the services that it seeks to place on the local market according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Gregory Dean.

Andre Griffith Last week we examined the implications of intellectual property in general and those implications with respect to information technology in particular. 

By Rawle Lucas Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice President of the Lending Services Division.

Tourism investment and training consultant Maureen Paul has told Stabroek Business that she feels that the sector is in the doldrums.

Authorities neglected squatter problem for years – source A senior local aviation official with first-hand knowledge of the existing security arrangements at the Cheddi Jagan Interna-tional Airport, Timehri, has accused the authorities of long-standing and unacceptable indifference” to security at the country’s only international airport.

GASCI Summary of Financials Session 269 Sep 15, 2008          Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

Few recent corruption-related revelations  – and there have been quite a few in recent years –  have attracted  the same level of public attention as the alleged Customs/Fidelity fraud.

Cautions against ‘downside’ to tourist economy Retired Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal has told Stabroek Business that he believed that the Caribbean had been “seduced” by the short term gains deriving from the economic returns from tourism and has warned that the region must be mindful of its “downside”.

-will further affect ties with international aviation industry The security challenges facing the authorities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri are well beyond their capacity to effectively address in the short-term and the most effective immediate response would be to temporarily deploy ranks from the Guyana Defence Force to secure the airport after dark.

There really is little more that can be said about the customary depositing of piles of garbage on streets and parapets and in drains in the commercial areas of Georgetown save and except that that there is no evidence whatsoever that the municipality, the state or the business community are prepared to treat the practice as a problem deserving of urgent remedial attention.