Local, Surinamese small businesses seeking to strengthen ties

-MOU being drafted

Seeking to demonstrate that the preoccupation of the two neighbouring Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries is not focussed exclusively on the prospects that inhere in their relatively recent world-class oil finds, Guyana and Suriname have been exploring, through both state and non-state channels, to solidify bilateral relations in areas that include initiatives at the level of their respective private sectors. Contextually, a delegation drawn from the Guyana/Suriname Business Council visited Guyana earlier this month, their mission being to solidify business-to-business relations between the two countries

The November visit, which followed a joint press statement from the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Suriname Trade and Industry Association (VSB), back in August, not only facilitated a bilateral engagement between the visiting Surinamese delegation and the local Private Sector Commission (PSC), but also allowed for ‘nuts and bolts’ engagements between the Surinamese visitors and representatives of local small businesses through a delegation headed by Founder and President of the recently established Together We Win Business Network, Marlon Joseph.

Joseph was instrumental in the planning and execution of the Saturday November 13 Business-to-Business meeting between businessmen and women comprising the

Surinamese delegation and businessmen and women from Guyana at the Critchlow Labour College in Woolford Avenue, Georgetown. The named “organizing partners” for the forum also included Professor Dewanand Mahadew, a leading member of the VSB.

A release issued by the two sides stated that the Guyana-Suriname Business Council’s mission is to enable business houses in the two countries to be in “pole positions” to connect with investors on both sides of the Corentyne River as well as to pursue business initiatives in the two countries.

Information made available to the Stabroek Business indicates that the delegations discussed issues aimed at moving businesses in Guyana and Suriname closer to a position where they could maximise the opportunities for across-the-border entrepreneurial pursuits that derive from the creation of the Business Council. The meeting also discussed “challenges affecting small- and mediumsized business enterprises in both Guyana and Suriname and examined the importance of networking and collaborating as a mechanism to surmounting those challenges. The two sides also reportedly discussed envisaged issues for inclusion in a Memorandum of Understanding between them which seeks to lay the foundation for the acceleration of business ties between micro, small- and medium-sized businesses in the two countries.