Major urban investments reflect confidence in Guyana economy …outgoing GCC President
Wants business community to become more aware of its social role
Stabroek News
March 30, 2007
Outgoing President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCC) Captain Gerry Gouveia has told Stabroek Business that the business community cannot hope to proceed with its entrepreneurial pursuits in 'splendid isolation' from the currents in the wider society since the social and political developments that occur in Guyana impact directly on the welfare of the business sector.
"While we do not expect that businessmen and women will behave as though they were politicians it would be naïve of us to believe that we can either ignore the social and political currents in the society or simply pretend they do not exist," Gouveia said.
The former Guyana Defence Force officer who demits office as President of the GCC at the end of April told Stabroek Business that the decision by members of the Chamber to provide support for the process aimed at ensuring peaceful general elections last August derived from a recognition that the business community cannot operate in an environment where civil stability cannot be guaranteed. "Our efforts to help ensure the retention of a climate in which peaceful general elections could take place was as much about the protection of the interests of the business community as it was about the broader stability of the country," Gouveia said.
Asked about the quality of the relationship between the urban business sector and the government Gouveia said that the relationship was 'a necessary one since the business sector operated within a framework of rules and regulations that were set by government.'
He said, however, that he favoured a relationship that was underpinned by 'mutual respect,' one that reflected 'a mutual appreciation of the particular roles that government and business had to play in the development of the country.'
In recent years differences have surfaced between the private sector and government over various issues including, most recently, some of the regulations and procedures associated with the implementation of the Value Added Tax and the Excise Tax from January 1 this year. And according to Gouveia the private sector can only function effectively in an environment in which it felt free to voice its legitimate concerns over issues "without having to be bothered about whether or not its point of view would find favour with government." What is important in the relationship between the government and the business community, he said, is that 'each side recognises the importance of the other's role in the creation of an economy in which the private sector is regarded, unquestionably, as the engine of growth.'
The GCC President told Stabroek Business that over the past few years a number of clear signs of confidence in the country's economy had emerged among local businessmen. This, he said, was reflected in a number of major investments in the retail trade, hotel and other sectors. "What is also significant is the fact that a number of first-time businesses have emerged in the city in recent years and that, as much as anything else, suggests that there is growing confidence in the investment climate," Gouveia said.
According to Gouveia one of trhe major challenges confronting the urban business community was that of 'creating "a legitimate place' in the business sector for small operators, including urban vendors. He said that government, the City Council and the Chamber of Commerce had to work together to ensure that vendors were able to earn a living while operating within the city by-laws. "The Chamber attaches a great deal of importance to ensuring a regime of good order in the capital. At the same time we are not unmindful of the importance of the vending community. That, in part, is why part of the focus of the Chamber under my own presidency has been on strengthening our relationship with the Georgetown City Council," Gouveia said.
And according to the outgoing GCC President while the profit motive was the principal priority among businessmen Guyana's circumstances demanded a business community that embraced a responsibility that went way 'simply enriching itself.' Gouveia told Stabroek Business that a business community with a human face was not simply a question of altruism but also a matter of 'good sense.' He said that the employment and salaries afforded workers and the various other contributions to wealth-creation by the private sector were 'important elements' in helping to create a stabler society in which people can feel a greater sense of self-worth. "It would be wishful thinking to believe that we can have stable, well-ordered society if we have a situation in which a business community simply enriches itself while no attention is paid to the concerns of ordinary citizens,' Gouveia said.