Chief Executive Officer of GO-INVEST, Geoff DaSilva, told the Chronicle that concerted efforts are being taken to make the agency a truly ‘first stop” agency so as to provide the potential investor with the necessary support to ensure the continued growth of investments in the local economy. However, he stressed that contrary to the public perception of the agency, it is not only involved in the promotion of investments, it is also involved in promotion of local exports.

Through more effective coordination and liaising with the 36 agencies that are involved in the investment process, GO-INVEST has been able to considerably reduce the “red tape” that has been negatively impacting on potential investments.

A report of the Guyana Economic Opportunities (GEO) survey sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) stated that: “A consistent problem encountered was that most clients had no idea how long they had been waiting for concessions or land and were only able to provide approximation. This lack of awareness makes reporting on these key issues difficult. A streamlined documentation system would enable GO-INVEST to keep al clients informed as well as provide records of the process.”

It added: “The amount of time required to process requests widely and thus the determination of an average processing time is of limited use. Some investors - most typically large, well-known local businesses - received approval for their request within a matter of days or weeks, whereas others claim to have been waiting for years to receive a final decision. The wide array of answers concerning timing speaks to the ongoing need to clarify the concessions-granting process to ensure equal treatment of all investors. When such treatment is not realistically possible, clients should be kept constantly informed regarding their requests.”

DaSilva said the agency has been working assiduously to ensure equal treatment is meted out to all investors, big or small or local or foreign. To this end investment requests are continually being monitored by designated officers of the agency so that focus is kept on the stages of the processing of documents.

“Guyana treats domestic and foreign investors alike with respect to investment incentives. Under the Status of Aliens Act, a non-resident of Guyana can acquire and dispose of assets and moveable and immovable property in the same manner as a citizen of Guyana. Guyana offers investors a number of incentives that are applied across the board and available based on an investor meeting specific criteria or making certain investments,” DaSilva said.

In addition to the general incentive regime, specific incentives are available for the manufacturing and productive sectors - agricultural and agribusiness, manufacturing, mining, forestry, tourism, housing, fisheries, information and communication technology, and the garment and textile.

He said the incentive regime is under review to include other concessions. Among the concessions is the inclusion of duty-free vehicles for farmers to transport their produce. Farmers have been consistently making representation for this concern, and he said he is supportive of their requests but it would be considered against the background of the impact on revenue collection.

GO-IVEST has also recognized, based on the experiences of other countries, that in order to sustain economic growth it is imperative to have enterprises of varying sizes - large, medium and small, as well to have both local and foreign investment.

The agency has also been keeping abreast of the innovations regarding investments in that have been applied in Europe, and have been applying those methods and strategies that are relevant to the local situation.

As regards enhancing export capacity, DaSilva said several seminars across the country were held last year and will be repeated this year. The seminars are based on market studies of Toronto, New York, London, Barbados, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia and St. Maarten.

Efforts are being made to participate in trade shows under the theme “Guyana On Show” in North America, Brazil and the Caribbean, DaSilva disclosed.