This is a truism, and it has universal applicability.

No present-day society can survive, much less prosper, unless it provides for and provides the basic necessities of life - food, clothing and shelter.

This is why it is important that we keep the wheels of industry and commerce turning.

Guyana is considered by many in the international socioeconomic arena as a "middle-income" country.

Ironically, many in Guyana don't agree. The reason, they argue, is that we lack a lot of the facilities and living standard amenities that comparative middle-income countries possess.

If anything, one of the major contributory factors to our relatively low standard of living has to do with the virtual stifling of the nation's productive capacity over the past several decades.

This capacity is only now beginning to spiral up to the level required for us to churn out the quantity and quality of goods and services that are vital to the satisfaction of our needs and desires.

After little over a decade of democratic renewal, the country's macro-economic picture has shown substantial improvements - the result of a combination of sound economic and fiscal policies and the goodwill of the donor community at both the bilateral and multilateral levels.

That goodwill has led Guyana to receiving some US$215 million in direct foreign investment inflows from 1991 to 1996, averaging US$33 million per year, and then US$44 million last year alone.

Thanks to renewed international community confidence, Guyana is now ranked 17th in the world for foreign direct investments as against 58th in the world among 140 countries in 1990.

Foreign investment inflows are vital to the country developing the capability to produce wealth to the satisfaction of all Guyanese. But, of course, much of the wealth we produce has to be self-generated. We simply have to produce more from what we have.

Our colonial past is partly responsible for our economy being heavily dependent on raw material exports, leaving very little room for economic diversification outside the traditional mainstays of sugar and rice.

Sugar and rice make an enormous contribution to the growth of Guyana's economy. So do other sectors such as gold, forestry and non-traditional exports.

Global trade issues wreck havoc with our ability to export more, to export at prices that will help make our industries more viable, and to provide more jobs for an ever increasing population of school leavers.

Guyana is keeping its fingers crossed that it will be able to achieve approximately US$600 million in debt relief over the next 20 years. But like global trade, how we fare depends on international community leaders honoring their commitment to give developing economies a break.

These uncertainties should compel us to improve the efficiency of the goods and services that we produce.

Human resources remain the key to socioeconomic progress. As we acquire skills and utilize them effectively, we must work together in unity and togetherness and dedicate and rededicate our energies towards the happiness and prosperity of our country.