President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday told government officials and private sector players in the Dominican Republic that there are abundant business opportunities in Guyana but more partnerships are needed.
And at a private sector meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Ali encouraged DR’s private sector to find more partnerships in Guyana.
See below the full release from the Dominican Republic’s Minister of External Relations:
Within the framework of the official visit of the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Export and Investment Center of the Republic Dominican Republic (ProDominicana), held a meeting between Dominican and Guyanese businessmen with the purpose of establishing links and investment opportunities between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez and the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of Guyana, Oneidge Walrond, promoted an extended joint meeting and closed sector meetings between businessmen from the construction, tourism, agriculture, energy and other areas tending to boost trade relations between both nations.
President Ali offered extensive statements, stating that the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is open for business and invited Dominican businessmen to explore business opportunities. In addition, the president pointed out that his country has important tax exemptions and works to reduce energy costs, in order to facilitate the installation of new industries in Guyanese territory. This, while he answered questions from the public.
For his part, Minister Álvarez said at this meeting that the historic visit to Guyana by President Luis Abinader has opened the doors for the Dominican Republic to strengthen its relations with each and every one of its Caribbean partners, expanding the spaces of cooperation and cemented a more dynamic trade in which exports and imports in both directions result in the growth of the business sector, in economic advances for both nations and in the integral well-being of their peoples.
He said that ” In this line, the country can become, for example, a strategic partner in the initiative 25 by 2025 that seeks to collaborate in the reduction of extra-regional imports of food in the Caribbean, that is, to reduce the import bill the region’s $5 billion food budget by 25 percent by 2025. We particularly congratulate the President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, for being the manager and promoter of this initiative. ”
During the development of the activity program, Biviana Riveiro, executive director of ProDominicana and her counterpart from Guyana, Peter Ramsaroop, managed the distribution of information packages on investment opportunities and how to do business in both countries. In addition, the special participation of Celso Marranzini, President of the National Council for Private Entrepreneurship (CONEP) and Komal Singh, executive director of the Guyana Private Sector Commission, was presented.
With the meeting held at the MIREX Convention Center, not only the diplomatic relations of the Dominican Republic and Guyana that date back to 1970 are strengthened; but also the possibilities of expanding trade are opened, complying with axis number two of the foreign policy of the Government of President Luis Abinader, which provides for the promotion of Dominican exports and foreign direct investment to generate more jobs.
For the annual period 2016-2022 and accumulated January – June 2023, the commercial exchange of the Dominican Republic with Guyana was US$ 205.7 million, with 80.6% of exports and the remaining 19.4% corresponding to imports of goods. Among the products exported from the Dominican Republic to Guyana are: mineral or chemical bonds with the three fertilising elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, iron bars or non-alloy steel, with notches, cords, holes or reliefs, portland cement, to mineral or chemical bonds and caps, lids, caps, and other closure devices, of plastic.
