Driving Along East Coast Demerara Highway The water can be seen in the background. This was about 2 Feet of water, in an are that was not affected as badly as further up the highway.	Driving Along East Coast Demerara Highway Again, this is another shot of the flooding. It was important to note that nearby is a cemetry, and one can only imagine the condition of the water.
Water in the Back-Ground As we go further up the highway, we are begining to see the gravity of this flood.	No where to Drive! Vehicles parked at the side of the highway.
Plaisance, East Coast Demerara Resident of Plaisance Village on the highway, waiting for relief help and other assistance.	Our Turning Point This is a clear indication of the height of the water in Plaisance area
Flood Victims Flood Victims receiving relief aids along the east coast highway.	Flood Victims Flood Victims receiving relief aids along the east coast highway.
The Ogle Lagoon? No, this is a street flooded in Ogle village on the East Coast of Demerara. Most of the residents have been evacuated, they are either by friends or family, or in relief shelters.	The Ogle Lagoon? No, this is a street flooded in Ogle village on the East Coast of Demerara. Most of the residents have been evacuated, they are either by friends or family, or in relief shelters.
Backyard Pool Large volume of water in yards.	My Home in a River These home were surrounded probably by 2-4 feet of water.

Click Here For Some More Shots

VISIT BY THE HULL & HUMBER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TRADE MISSION. 

May 10, 2004

Chatting With The Delegates Mr. E. Boyer, the President of the GCCI chatting with the delegates from the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce while they were at the GCCI on their Trade Mission. On the left, is the newly appointed Director, Avalon Jagnandan.	Welcome! Mr. Edware Boyer, President of the GCCI expressing a warm welcome to Ms. Pauline Wade who headed the Trade Delegation	Mr. Edware Boyer and Ms, Pauline Wade

December 05, 2003.

Honourable Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Chief Justice, Ministers of Government, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, Mayor Hamilton Green, Members of the Diplomatic Community, Members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, other distinguish guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. 

Once again I am afforded the opportunity to engage your valued time and attention in the presentation of my report on the stewardship of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. over the past year.  I am concerned however, that the organizing sub-committee should allow me to speak to you before dinner.  This is worrisome for me as the possibility of spoiling your appetite is not exactly a thrilling prospect.  Nonetheless I feel privileged, not only to address this glittering assembly of Guyanese, who, in the daily discharge of their obligations and responsibility, have come to exemplify those universal values of honesty, integrity and compassion.  Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues and I in the business sector and indeed all of us assembled here tonight, I am sure, can take pride in presenting these awards to these distinguished persons and be inspired by their recognition. Therefore, please join me in a round of applause!!

CRIME

At this time of the year the season of peace and goodwill is upon us, and it is within this fabric of peace and goodwill that I have reflected on the past year’s experience at the helm of the Camber. Once again, our society is assailed by unrelenting crime and attendant violence that has horrified and seared the psyche of the nation.  Our senses are rendered numb by the images of torn and bloody tissue, the weeping, and the grief that is the aftermath of violent robbery, kidnapping and internecine gang warfare.  The reality of this situation was brutally brought home to the chamber with the senseless kidnapping and beating of the Chamber’s Executive Director.  We that God for what was his eventual safe return form his ordeal and remain alert to the fact that today businessmen are prime targets of violent crime.  Our police force continues to be seriously challenged and tested at all levels to the extent that their efforts in responding to violent crime and random killings appear faltering at best.  The business community needs to be assured of the efficacy of Guyana’s “finest” and this would help in reducing the tension, security and anxiety that the local business community is experience at this time.  More importantly, the perception of Guyana as a “business-friendly” location must be nurtured and maintained and a police force seemingly not on top of the situation would lend to an erosion and distortion of such a perception.  Similarly Ladies and Gentlemen, fire-fighting water effaces the “fighting’ of such a “fire” as was the recent experience by a number of businessmen.  Such devastating experience compels us to reexamine the whole approach to fire prevention and the attendant regulatory provisions. 

HEALTH

HIV/ AIDS continue its worldwide decrement of humanity and I want to issue a clarion call for business to step up their support in the fight against this scourge of mankind.  We are encouraged in this resolve by the efforts of the international donor community and global pharmaceutical companies in general, but are particularly emboldened by the efforts of the ‘New” GPC in the production of anti-retroviral for infected persons.  This company, Ladies and Gentlemen, was recognized for this outstanding achievement at the recently concluded Caricom Heads of Government meeting in St. Lucia.  A member of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a co-sponsor of your dinner. 

GOVERNANCE

Back in May of this year, the chamber welcomed the issue of the communiqué between His Excellency President Jagdeo and Leader of the opposition Mr. Robert Corbin that ushered in the resumption of the dialogue process.  This singular event, ladies and gentlemen, propelled us into a new round of expectation and hope.  Hope that all the agreements that stem from the dialogue process are put in place quickly, at the same time that the crime situation is brought under control.  For it is then and only then, that the enabling environment for economic growth and poverty reduction will flourish and further unleash the wealth generation capacities of our nation. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Chamber’s responsibility to contribute to the creation of this enabling environment has underscored and informed the actions, interventions and interactions of this institution over the past two years in general, and the current year in particular.  While I don not wish at this stage to regale you with the minutes of our every engagement, I do however want to highlight the more important meetings we have had with the various subject Ministries and other foreign and local institutions.  We continue to engage in talks with the Customs and Trade Administration on periodic basis.  I must report that our meetings, while clarifying and clearing-up a number of issues have created a greater awareness and understanding of the issues as they affect both business and Government revenue collection. We have also met with the newly appointed Commissioner General Mr. Khursid Sattaur at which meeting with the business community was able to actively engage the CG on the Fiscal Enactment Amendment Act and the Custom’s Trade and Administration Process.  I am also pleased to report of a very frank and candid meeting with the directorate if Guyana Power and Light although we failed to get a reduction in tariff rates!!  Your Chamber also met with a number of Chambers of Commerce form overseas and included visiting delegations form Indonesia, the UK, Cuba, and Brazil.  In August the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry on behalf of the Private Sector Organizations in Guyana signed a Joint Business Council with the federation of Indian Chambers and Commerce and Industry to increase trade and investment opportunities between our two countries amongst others. 

ECONOMY

On the Economy, the Chamber of Commerce over the last year attended a number of meetings, the IMF Donor Agencies, US Treasury and other international lending institutions.  The discussions centered around all that is known to us – HIPIC, PRSP and NDS.  What was notable is that we in the Private Sector are juggling with high interest rates and electricity costs while these donor institutions continue on a quest to have us perform the task that George Orwell described in his book Animal Farm and that is “to urge us to tighten our belts until our bellies touch our backs”. 

The President at a meeting with the Private Sector and Head of WTO initiated discussions on the issues of the WTO e.g. agricultural subsidies, access to developed markets negotiating conditions for Guyana and the Region. 

What was evident was that there were no quotas or restrictions of our products at the distributor’s level in some countries where local conglomerates lobby against import distribution of our products.  We have seen the Ministry of Agriculture in these countries change their names to subsidise their agricultural sector with urban ones.  Guyana can ill afford such subsidies and therefore is unable to compete. 

The Chamber of Commerce finds it difficult to perform without your support and the limited support derived from the few members who generously support it.  The Organisation is not funded.  It therefore depends upon membership support and the dinner you have supported tonight. 

Some Companies question why support the Chamber while others see the need to have an organization to help in grouping matters and issues that affect this Organisation.  Some members believe in the lone ranger style and see no need for any collaboration with other members. 

These are all good and stated positions.  However I wish to differ that in this day and age of information technology, shared knowledge and good understanding of the competitive structure in our businesses define the need for you to be part of an organization.   

We must change our paradigm-our set pattern of thought.  We have to start thinking global but acting local.  Cyber technology has overtaken us.  Businesses can be set up within 24 hours in some states, for example Miami, or the state refunds you.  Transnationals no longer need physical infrastructures to operate abroad.  Stock exchanges are booming internationally, because businessmen are not hindered by myopic and unrealistic fetters of clinging to dynasties that are rapidly crumbling.  Come on friends, let us make a real commitment tonight to move beyond merely nodding in agreement or frowning in exasperation at what I’m saying here.  Let’s get this show on the road! 

INTERNATIONAL

Mr. Mark Harris represented the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Latin America Regional Executive Forum on “Exporting Strategy in a Changing Business Environment” that was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia form June 10^th to June 14^th 2003.  The International Trade Center, UNCTAD and the Swiss Economic Cooperation Council sponsored this event.  As if the opportunities and challenges presented by the CSME are not enough, Guyana is now poised to explore and exploit a whole new vista of business opportunity with out southern neighbour Brazil.  With us here tonight in person, Ladies and Gentlemen is His Excellency, the Ambassador if the Federative Republic of Brazil to Guyana, Senor Ney Do Prado Diegues.  Ambassador Diegues will speak tonight on the “Physical Integration and Trade with Brazil” and I am sure that what he has to say to us is indicative of the mutual desire of our two countries to work closely together in the strengthening and deepening of our trade ties.  The membership of the Chamber remains cognizant of the need to intensify our trade relations with Brazil and notes with extreme satisfaction the conduct of relations at the highest level between President Jagdeo and President Lula of Brazil. 

We must demand of our government that as the custodians and investors of the wealth we create and generate, Guyana gets optimum returns. 

We are challenged both at the parliamentary level and in the business sector to restore investors’ confidence.  Foreign direct investment is a sin qua non in this new global dispensation.  We have to find niche markets in the not too distant future if we are to survive globalization. 

Some companies question why support the Chamber; others see the need to have an organization to discharge the mandate of the organization.

Some members believe in the lone ranger style and see no need for any collaboration with other members.  I ask you tonight to name a country which has no Chamber of Commerce or a body which performs the function of a Chamber of Commerce.  COME ON LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I’M WAITING. GIVE ME THE NAME AND YOU’LL GET AN AWARD NEXT YEAR.

That answers the question of why we are here. We are here because we have a mandate.  Ipsofacto you exist, the Chamber exists.  It therefore begs the question why are you indifferent and complacent vis-à-vis the body.  If the Chamber goes down, we go down, and if we go down, Guyana would be a failed state. 

The Chamber finds it difficult to perform without your support and only few members carry the burden.  We need mass support in order to be more viable so that when we speak our voices amplified.  We are not a funded organization.   The need for organizations in this ear of globalization serves not only to increase and improve trade but to create a regulatory framework for a fair trading and deterrent to predatory practices both at local and international level.  As is the case today some countries like Guyana, budgets are less than some multilateral Companies or conglomerates.  We find it difficult to lobby and therefore we must group ourselves as one body both at the local and regional levels to make our case. 

Just last week I was told of a foreign Company that came into Guyana under the pretext of manufacturing bicycles but has now entered the trading business and instead importing bicycles and other items and selling in the local market. 

So far, so good but are these Companies not preying on our small market and repatriating profits without paying taxes?  We are told that this situation is worse as I speak since there are several other persons who are importing from this country where the bill of lading or shipping bill just has a cell phone number and address as the consignee.

The competitive challenges that will confront us would mean that our institutions / organizations must play a more meaningful role in trade policy formation at the the national, regional and international level.  If not, we will all be consumed and not be able to leapfrog our country into the 21^st Century.

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you miss anything in my speech you can visit our website and let us not waste out energy or squander our equity on useless time consuming confrontation, exclamation and recrimination.  It is time to tone down this uncertain mood that hangs like a gloom on out nation.  Rather, let us actively promote the required discipline so that we can position ourselves to real the benefits of this new global disposition for the current generation of Guyanese and for those to come.

I thank you all.

Mr. Edward Boyer,

President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.

December 5, 2003.

Chamber Dinner

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner would be held on the 5th December 2003 at the Le Meridien Pegasus.

PROGRAMME

Chairperson – Mark Harris

19:00 h – 19:30 h Cocktails

19:35 h – Prayer – Ms. Doris Lewis

19:40 h – Introduction of the President of GCC&I

19:45 h – President’s Address

20:00 h – Musical Interlude and Dinner

20:50 h – Introduction of Guest Speaker by Mr. Brian James

20:55 h – Guest Speaker – His Excellency, Mr. Ney do Prado Diegues – Amabssador of Brazil.

21:15 h – Citations

Presentation of the GCC&I People’s Awards Chancellor Desiree Benard.

21:30 h – Mapleleaf/Chamber Christmas Presentation – Mr. Dave Persaud

Recipients – David Rose Boys Hostel, Joshua House, Shaheed’s Boys and Girls Orphanage.

21:35h – Drawing of Prizes – Ms. I. Sowdagar

21:45 h – Vote of Thanks – Ms, Anna Lisa Fraser.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Establishes Internet Presence. 

On October 1, 2003, The GCC&I Launched its website onto the world-wide web.

Crydon Chamber of Commerce Visits The GCC&I.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry notes with satisfaction the bridging of trading links between businesses in the United Kingdom and Guyana through the recent visit to Guyana by the Croydon Chamber of Commerce. Both Chambers will now further strengthen collaboration and engagement in joint business ventures that would facilitate two-way trade between the two countries.

By their visit the Croydon Chamber of Commerce has demonstrated its willingness and interest to do business with Guyana and has indicated its intention to assist in the promotion of Guyanese business in United Kingdom particularly in the areas of eco-tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.

As part of these promotion efforts, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be featured in a United Kingdom business newspaper entitled “Business News” with a circulation of over 20,000. We urge members and other sectors of the business community to take advantage of this opportunity to show-case their businesses.