Business

Last week I had the immense pleasure of attending the Game Developers Conference held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

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The monetary penalties imposed on a number of delinquent loggers by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) are permissible under existing forestry legislation and fall within the regulations of the Commission and operators in the country’s forestry sector are well aware of those regulations, according to GFC Commissioner James Singh.

An estimated twenty per cent of importers of foods into Guyana are in contravention of the law on account of their non-registration with the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department, a circumstance that raises concern that some of the country’s food imports may, through evasion of vital health and safety standards inspections, pose a threat to the health of consumers.

For some time now Director of the Government Analyst Food & Drugs Department Ms.

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Newly appointed Head of Digicel’s marketing operations in Guyana Donovan White has refuted what he described as suggestions that the company’s business interests in the region are short term and that it is simply seeking a “quick score.”

The privately-run security firm United Associates Security and Domestic Services (UAS&DS) is reportedly on the verge of closure following the reallocation of state sites previously assigned to the company to two other companies.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

Chief Executive Officer of DIGICEL’s Guyana operations Mark Linehan has told Stabroek Business that last Sunday’s launch of the company’s GSM cellular service at Mahdia reflects the company’s conviction that the creation of a competitive environment in the telecommunications sector offers more choice to Guyanese consumers while providing greater opportunity for the economic advancement of the country.

Long before the February 12 on-line issue of The Economist magazine reported on the Lusignan massacre of January 26, countries around the world would have already learnt by one means or another of the dastardly act.

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company is expecting that the much-anticipated talks with the Government of Guyana which are expected to conclude with the termination of the monopoly which the company now holds in the local telecommunications sector will proceed in an atmosphere of professionalism and cordiality.

On Thursday January 31, I found myself in a business meeting in the United States trying to explain the events of the Lusignan horror.

The first ever Caribbean Tourism Summit scheduled to take place in Washington from June 21 – 25 offers an outstanding opportunity for Guyana to refine its understanding of the challenges and potential of the tourist industry and to revalue its approach to the development of the sector according to a senior tourism sector official.

Overview: In modern times, the only times Governments are involved in private sector operations and revenue generation, other than taxes, are in the few remaining socialist, communist, or dictatorial countries.

The $275m in fines imposed on several loggers by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) for breaches of its regulations are yet to be paid and according to an informed source in the forestry sector the loggers are likely to move to the courts to challenge the fines.

The Managing Director of Top Brandz, one of the larger distributors of imported beverages and household items has told Stabroek Business that the company has no interest in distributing “questionable brands” or products that cannot withstand the scrutiny of whatever health and quality standards testing they are exposed to prior to distribution in Guyana.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

With the English speaking Caribbean having received more than 6 million tourists in 2007, the marked upsurge in violent crime appears – at least up until now – to have done little to diminish the popularity of the region as a tourist haven.

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