Value-added processing plant...

agreeing on how we move forward. We will differ in some areas but I want to remain optimistic. The GMSA also feels the need to show initiative.”

Ali told Stabroek Business that the GMSA was encouraged by its engagement with Finance Minister Jordan and Business Minister Gaskin at the recent Roundtable forum. “I do not get the impression that those two Ministers are there for a talk shop. I think they are wellmeaning and given the recent interaction on agro processing and forest products I am sure that something positive is going to come of this.” Ali’s views on the prevailing climate at the ongoing roundtable has been echoed by Nokta.

Local agro processors have continually bemoaned the weakness of the country’s manufacturing infrastructure as being largely responsible for what is widely felt to be the underperformance of the sector up to this time. Both Nokta and Ali said that part of the focus of the GMSA during the roundtable sessions on agro-processing would be to forge an enhanced public/private sector partnership in order to improve the fortunes of the sector.

Head of the GMSA’s Trade and Investment Committee Clem Duncan told Stabroek Business that he believed that that the fortunes of the local manufacturing sector would be significantly enhanced if the government’s policy of allocating 20 per cent of its contracts to small businesses could be executed, as enshrined in the 2004 Small Business Act. ”If we can have that formally implemented then we can be able to set up an organizational structure that allows for the importation of items in bulk and for the distribution of those items to local manufacturers.

Little has been heard of the implementation of this provision since late last year when the Business Minister announced at a Small Business Bureau forum that the provision was scheduled to come on stream during the second quarter of this year.