‘Time to forge alliances’- PSC Chairman says as Texas Chamber eyes local partnerships

Guyanese are yet again presented with an opportunity to gain expertise and be better positioned to benefit from the proceeds of oil and gas following an introductory meeting between the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and a delegation from the Bilateral Chamber of Commerce located in Houston, Texas.

Also part of the meeting held on Monday at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown were representatives of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) including Director of Investment Samora Marcus Watkins

PSC Chairman Paul Cheong spoke with the News Room moments after the meeting and said it presented a good opportunity for Guyanese to “piggyback”, form partnerships and together raise and met the targets set for Guyanese to benefit under new local content laws.

The delegation is headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Bilateral Chamber, Aida Araissi with a keen focus to promote trade, investment, training, and educational exchanges.

Cheong said the delegation had experts in agriculture, oil and gas, construction and finance.

Specifically, the team will advance talks in the areas of aviation, hospitality, land and equipment, civil engineering, oil and gas and agriculture.

Cheong said that Guyana welcomes foreign investment as it augurs well for the development of the private sector and the country as a whole.

He believes it will go a far way in helping to develop local skills needed to work in oil and gas sector.

“We are new to this and to achieve the level of competence as a nation we need to understand what others are doing and get them to help us along the way. They already have expertise and if we can piggyback it will be a good thing.”

“Now is time to forge alliances,” Cheong added.

Araissi offered a comment and explained that over the next few days, the delegation will be assessing the needs of Guyana to see what expertise can be provided to support local content.

“We selected a few diverse members to come in…to understand and assess the need of the country and the type of expertise we can bring in to support local content needs,” she said.

Araissi said the Chamber has also been briefed by the United States Embassy and believes it can make a difference in Guyana just as it has done in other parts of the world.

The Chamber has more than 24 years of building strategic alliances in key markets across the globe, providing a gateway to international trade, resources, partners and alliances.

PSC’s Corporate Member, Faizul Khan and Jeffrey Van Putten are Co-Chairing the Guyana Desk for the visiting Bilateral Chamber.