"We have laid the foundations for a sustainable future in sugar," Oudit told a news conference yesterday at the Herdmanston House in Georgetown.

According to him, expected revenues will continue to alleviate poverty and improve income redistributions.

"Our employees represent some of the best trained personnel in the Caribbean and their skills continue to improve (and) with the continued support of the Government, the unions and the public, we are confident of the future progress of the industry," Oudit stated.

Oudit, who has been the Chairman of GUYSUCO for about 10 years now, having being appointed to the post shortly after the PPP/Civic won the 1992 general elections, admitted that he had tendered his resignation to the Office of the President. His resignation comes into effect from the end of this month.

Oudit choose the occasion yesterday to yesterday to highlight some of the achievements of the corporation during his tenure as Chairman of GUYSUCO and to disclose some of the future plans that are currently in place to move the sugar Corporation forward.

He indicated that the current strategic plan for the corporation is seen as "the best way forward". The corporation plans to reduce the overall cost of sugar production from US$0.17 per pound to US$0.11 per pound with an annual production of some 450,000 tonnes sugar and 180,000 tonnes molasses.

He also made it clear that continuation of production at Demerara is included in the plan.

It was noted that execution of the corporation's strategic plan commenced in 2002 and the projects underway include a new factory at Skeldon (US$110M), increased private cane farming, joint investment in distillery in Berbice, possible cogeneration, and generate revenue through the sale of surplus lands, with support from the Privatisation Unit.

The corporation is also keen on value-added products, such as the 'Demerara Gold' which was launched earlier this year. In this regard, GUYSUCO intends to have new product lines added, with a specific focus on the "Demerara" product name.

The Chairman noted that there was significant increases in production over the years from 130,000 tonnes in 1990 to 331,000 in 2002 - a 154% increase and which is the highest production ever from eight factories.

There has also been increases in yield from 54 tonnes to 80 tonnes cane per hectare between 1990 and 2002 - a 48% increase.

There was also an increase from tones cane to tonnes sugar (TC/TS) ratio from 13 to 11 between 1990 and 2002.

There was also a 12% increase in land harvested from 36,550 hectares in 1990 to 41,030 in 2002 and increase in tonnes cane milled from 1.98 million in 1990 to 3.67 million in 2002 - an increase of 85%.

In terms of corporate achievements, it was noted that professional managers are in place at GUYSUCO; there is an excellent partnership between management and Board of Directors and the applications of principles of good corporate governance, among many others.

Oudit also reiterated that GUYSUCO is the highest contributor to GDP (18%) and the largest foreign export earner in Guyana.

According to him, the overall sales of sugar and molasses in 2002 was US$133M.

GUYSUCO also employs 17,000 persons directly and 3,000 temporary workers and an estimated 5,000 persons (mainly private cane farmers) indirectly.

In terms of challenges, Oudit noted that the corporation is facing the advancing scenarios where new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union in 2008 that may change both the volume and price offered and could culminate in regional EPAs with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group.

The Chairman dispelled speculations that his resignation stemmed from recent reports in some sections of the media of him getting 'mammoth salary and allowances' as Chairman of the Corporation. One report even indicated that he had received more than $10M as Chairman of the GUYSUCO Board for 2002. Oudit clarified that he was only receiving $9,000 per month (take home). He suggested that all other expenses and benefits which he is entitled to, or which comes as part of being Chairman of the Board of GUYSUCO, such as overseas travels, hotels, meals, etc cannot be counted as money he "took home".