SET UP HIGH COMMISSION IN GUYANA, AMCHAM TELLS GOVT

THE American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM) is recommending that a High Commission be set up in Guyana. 

The recommendation is in a package of proposals sent ahead of the annual budget, to be presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert. 

CounterPunchTT and various other local and international media institutions have been reporting on the expanding number of commercial opportunities in Guyana as a result of its extensive energy discoveries. 

On the basis of revenues from the energy sector, the Guyanese authorities have undertaken a large number of infrastructural projects throughout the country. 

The energy sector is offering wide-ranging opportunities to service providers. 

ExxonMobil, the multinational corporation that is the primary player in the sector, has revealed that it has more than 800 contractors. 

Amcham called on the Trinidad and Tobago Government to engage in “economic diplomacy and trade promotion” in Guyana, which is projected to become “the fastest growing economy in the western hemisphere over the next decade.”  

The business body also recommended the setting up of a National Recovery Fund “to mobilise private capital” through the provision of future tax credits. 

Amcham would also like to see the divestment of successful State enterprises. 

There is also a call for a widening of the tax net “by enforcing the existing tax laws for non-compliant businesses.”