This meeting is part of a series of business-to-business collaboration organised by the respective government agencies: Export Barbados and the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest). The delegation which arrived in Barbados on Monday, 23rd of May 2022 includes 56 delegates who will be exhibiting their businesses at Agrofest 2022. Furthermore, 11 businesses which were involved in several strategic business-to-business level meetings with members of Barbados’ Private Sector, gathered information and forged partnerships as facilitated by GO-Invest and Export Barbados. These delegates represent a cross section of sectors such as Manufacturing, Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Jewelers, Craft and Industrial supplies.
This initiative is lauded as being timely and much needed as the two countries seek to further develop strategic partnerships between their Private Sectors. The executive director of the BMA, Ms. Shardae Boyce says, “There are several projects which we are working on that this collaboration will benefit.” The BMA Executive cites pineapples and other non-traditional agricultural imports as immediate needs which can be supplied from Guyana for the production of rationing packages as part of their Rationing Pack Initiative.
Mr. Nizam Hassan, Executive Director of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) suggested that his membership is keen on developing such partnerships with their Barbadian counterparts. He stated that, “We are looking forward to working with BMA and their members to understand the needs of the Barbados market in order to ensure that products which are supplied from Guyana meet the expectations of the Barbados consumer both from a pricing perspective as well as in terms of quality.” The CEO of Export Barbados has also indicated that his team will be working with their Guyanese counterparts to develop the Guyanese export market for Barbadian products, citing that currently Barbados exports approximately $25 million worth of products and services to Guyana. Over the next three years Export Barbados through its collaboration with GO-Invest and the Guyanese Private Sector seeks to move this total to $50 million.
