Untapped potential and endless possibilitiesBoasting a young, multicultural population and vast untouched natural resources, Guyana is capitalising on its rich diversity to position itself as the new frontier of investment and exploration. As the home of regional trading and political bloc CARICOM, this South American nation with a Caribbean heart is seeking to build trade ties both with its neighbours and further afield, as joint projects with longstanding partner China demonstrate. Today, Guyana is fast becoming a natural gateway for investors to the region, who are attracted by its English-speaking workforce – unique in South America – as well as its proximity to oil-rich Venezuela and economic giant Brazil.

Guyana

www.the-report.net/guyana

An independent supplement distributed in The Economic Observer on behalf of The Report Company, who takes sole responsibility for its content. December 16th 2013

14Home to untouched rainforests, rolling savannahs and a coastal belt, Guyana holds extensive reserves of gold, dia-monds and bauxite. The country aims to manage its resources sustainably, and a government-backed economic diversity drive is opening up new agricultural sectors, from forestry to livestock, seafood and fruit.

“We have been looking to transform the traditional sectors of the economy and also at the same time introduce new ar-eas. Guyana is very much a new frontier opportunity.”Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister

04 08 12Bilateral relationsChina and Guyana: A history of friendship

InvestmentThe government is opening Guyana’s doors to global business.

AgricultureExporting value-added products as well as staples is a key part to Guyana's agricultural future

02 Introduction 12 The driving force of agriculture07 Perspective on finance

A Caribbean melting potCenturies of colonial expansion in today’s Guyana has shaped an ethnic mix as diverse as the country’s natu-ral resources

Dr Leslie Ramasammy Minister of AgricultureAgriculture is now a wealth creator and a vehicle for economic and social prosperity with demerara sugar and rice being the country's key exports

Hon. Dr Ashni Kumar Singh Minister of Finance

Investors in Guyana benefit from ac-cess to over 277 million consumers

including neighbouring power-house Brazil

11Natural resources From fisheries and timber to mining Guyana is a diverse catch

Ripe for investment, open for exploration Guyana is home to a rich biodiversity of forests and wildlife, as well as mineral resources

English translation of the supplement on Guyana as published in China’s The Economic Observer newspaper on December 16th 2013

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

to eight years, despite the problems in the global economy. We are now getting to be known for good things.”In 2010, Guyana made international head-lines for all the right reasons. Former Pres-ident Bharrat Jagdeo was championed for his ‘Low Carbon Development Strategy’, which set out a new model for the crea-tion of a green economy, environmental conservation and sustainable growth. The government of Guyana signed a landmark REDD+ agreement with Norway through which it would receive substantial funds for its efforts to limit deforestation. These efforts have in turn led to the country carving out a niche for itself as a destina-tion for adventure and eco-tourism.As the government opened up the country to private enterprise and visitors alike, sell-ing off state-owned companies, the economy began to flourish. Huge reserves of bauxite, gold, diamonds, manganese, timber, f ish and seafood, agricultural produce and many other minerals are all starting to be exploited with exploration underway for oil and other products which are believed to lie within Guyana’s territory. Foreign companies such as Bosai, Reunion Manganese and Repsol are among those who have moved in to this virgin land.“The economy has changed from a state-

controlled to a free market system and is now more open. Guyanese people are now putting their money into the country and setting up companies,” highlights Repsol’s country manager in Guyana, Giancarlo Ariza. On the regional stage Guyana’s star has also been shining brightly. As a founding mem-ber of regional grouping CARICOM and with its capital Georgetown the secretariat’s headquarters, Guyana has been using its influence to push for further regional inte-gration in a bid to pool resources among the 15-member bloc and diversify its trade and political partners. With strong historical and cultural links to Europe and geographical and economic realities drawing it close to North America, Guyana has highlighted the need to reach out to new partners such as rising powers Brazil and China. It is a lso a founding member of South American bloc UNASUR and was recently named an associate member of the regional customs union MERCOSUR, creating at-tractive possibilities to turn this small na-tion into a trade and investment platform for much of the region. However, to achieve this, significant chal-lenges remain. The economy is hamstrung by the import of petroleum and energy which has led to some of the highest elec-

tricity prices in the region, while a proposal for a vast new hydroelectric project at Amaila Falls has become stuck in the Na-tional Assembly. Infrastructure is limited and much of the interior is inaccessible. Waves of emigration in the 1970s and 1980s starved the country of some its brightest minds while the economy is dominated by six commodities: sugar, rice, gold, bauxite, timber and shrimp – between them contrib-uting 60 percent to GDP but all susceptible to global market fluctuations.“We have been looking to transform the tradi-tional sectors of the economy and also at the same time introduce new areas,” states Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, “Guyana is very much a new frontier opportunity.”And by opening up its economy to foreign in-vestors and cooperation, Guyana is turning its economic, political and social challenges into opportunities for investors across the world, among them many Chinese companies and organisations that have been received with open arms by Guyana’s government.“Guyana is a country on the move,” empha-sises minister of foreign affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. “I hope with what we have been doing that that is how we will be perceived, as a country that is democratic, open for business, and has its people living in harmony.”

Guyana and its capital Georgetown display a rich diversity of people, styles and influenc-es. Culturally more Caribbean than South American, this melting pot owes its rich heritage to a diverse mix of Amerindian, African, Indian, Caribbean, Latin American, British, Dutch, Chinese and Portuguese influences. The faces of Guyana’s people display an ethnic mix and religious diversity found in few other places on the American continent, all living side by side. In the wide boulevards which characterise Guyana’s small capital Georgetown, one can see the juxtaposition of the old with the new as famous local landmarks from the colonial era, such as the Stabroek Market, sit alongside the modern Guyana International Confer-ence Centre.

Centuries of colonial expan-sion in today’s Guyana has shaped an ethnic mix as di-verse as the country’s natural resources. The largest ethnic group is the Indo-Guyanese, the descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought over in the 19th century and today comprise 43.5 percent of the population. The Afro-Guyanese, descendants of African slaves, are the next largest group making up 30.2 percent of the population. The remaining 26.3 percent include indigenous Amerindi-ans, Chinese, Europeans and those of mixed race. Guyana is also famed for its religious tol-erance and diversity and many Guyanese will proudly talk of churches, mosques and Hindu temples side by side. Some 57 percent of the population is Christian, with 28 percent Hindu and 7 percent Muslim. Guyana’s food ref lects the diversit y of its population drawing on Caribbean, Indian, Chinese, European and Amer-indian influences.

A Caribbean melting pot

Land of opportunity

Populationapproximately 770,000,

mostly concentrated on the coastal plain.

Geography214,970 square kilometres, bordering Venezuela to the west, Brazil to the south,

Suriname to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the north.

Date of independence from the United Kingdom

26th May 1966

GDP growth 20123.3 percent

Guyana at a glance:

Nestled in the northern jungles of South America, the culturally Caribbean nation of Guyana is starting to carve out a name for itself as a new frontier for exploration and investment. Significant challenges remain but Guyana is rich in natural resources and is throwing open its doors to investors.

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Directors: Jose Powell and Rafael MuñozManaging Editor: Paul BurgeEditing: Eleanor WraggProject Director: Mercedes PagaldayEditorial Coordinator: Lucila de PasqualeWriters: Oliver Moss, Jonathan AndrewsTranslation: Jenny Song

Guyana, the ‘land of many waters’ as its name means in the local Amerindian dialect, is still to many something of a ‘Lost World’, conjuring up images of El Dorado, pristine rainforest, vast rivers, dense flora and mysti-cal fauna. The reality of this South American nation in many ways is not too far off. Guyana is the size of Great Britain but has a population of a mere 760,000, making it the 8th least densely populated country on the planet. The majority of this nation is still covered by untouched forests, rolling savannahs, breath-taking waterfalls and raging rivers all home to a staggering bio-diversity of wild-life, plants and minerals. However Guyana is beginning to put itself on the regional and international radar, quietly leading regional integration efforts in the Caribbean and South America, while opening itself up for business, investors and visitors. Indeed, much of its appeal lies in the very fact that the nation is largely untouched, promis-

ing rich rewards for those who come to ex-plore Guyana’s possibilities. First sighted in 1498 on Christopher Colum-bus’ third expedition to the New World, it wasn’t until the early seventeenth century that the Dutch started to settle and colonise the coastal areas of Guyana. By 1815 the Brit-ish had moved in and taken possession of the colony – the British Empire’s only foothold on the South American continent. With a fertile coastal plain the British soon started develop-ing a rich agricultural belt along the coast, bringing in first African slaves, then Indian, Chinese and European labourers to work on the colony’s vast sugar plantations, and giv-ing Guyana the rich ethnic mix evident today.In 1966, Guyana joined much of the British West Indies in becoming an independent na-tion, four years later making the transition to a republic. However independence did not im-mediately bring many benefits for the popula-tion. The 1970s and 1980s were characterised by economic failure, until elections in 1992

brought in the presidency of Cheddi Jagan of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). The new president faced a raft of challenges including enormous debt, economic stagna-tion, mass emigration and ethno-political divisions. However over the past twenty years under the presidencies of Cheddi Jag-an, his wife Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo and the incumbent Donald Ramotar, all accom-panied by the steady hand of veteran Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Guyana has turned a corner and has been showing strong and consistent growth.Posting GDP growth of 3.3 percent in 2012, Guyana is continuing an upwards, resources-driven trend that is slowly beginning to change the narrative of this once-overlooked nation. “There is not a lot of information about Guyana out there,” admits President Donald Ramotar. “It’s our challenge now to make them see the positives and the pos-sibilities that exist within our society. Our economy has been growing over the last seven

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Distributed with 32 Guyana Th

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Caribbean RegionCaribbean Region

ment with China and receives frequent medical missions. “More and more Chinese companies are coming to Guy-ana to seek investment and business opportunities,” said China’s ambassador in Guyana, Zhang Limin at an event to launch an extension to the OLPF programme, high-lighting major Chinese investments in areas such as min-ing, infrastructure and ICT.The Chinese province of Guangdong through the Guangdong Friendship Association, a non-governmen-tal organisation designed to promote friendship, trade and cooperation with the province, has made its own moves to establish ties with Guyana. The province’s director general of the foreign affairs office, Fu Lang, made a visit to Guyana in August 2013, meeting Presi-dent Ramotar and agreeing to work together on future cooperation projects.Investment has even started to trickle back the other way. Che Jian Ping, chairman of Georgetown’s famous New Thriving Restaurant and an ethnic Chinese naturalised in Guyana, has recently opened her first restaurant back in her ancestral land. Meanwhile, 34 Guyanese products are currently being exported to China.

A regional partnerBut it is not only in investment that there are opportuni-ties. Guyana is taking on an increasingly important re-gional geo-political role that opens possibilities for China to increase its inf luence in the region. As a founding member of both the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its South American equivalent UNASUR, Guyana is at the heart of regional integration.As individual nations, the fifteen member states of CARI-COM are relatively small and underpopulated, and might not be considered a priority for the world’s second-largest economy. Yet, by developing friendly relations with the bloc, China stands to count on 15 votes at the UN Gen-eral Assembly as it looks to increase its political clout on the world stage. This growing importance was highlighted in June 2013 when President Xi Jinping made a high-level visit to the CARICOM heads of state meeting in Trinidad & To-bago, holding meetings with many of the bloc’s heads of state, including Guyanese President Donald Ramotar. President Xi Jinping spoke ahead of his visit to CARICOM on the importance of Chi-nese relations with Latin American and the Caribbean. “With two-way trade reaching US$261.2 billion in 2012, China has become the second largest trading partner of Latin America and the Caribbean, which witnessed the world’s fastest-rising exports to China. By investing nearly US$65 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean in accumulative terms, China has helped create much-needed jobs in the region.”Despite Guyana’s own seven consecutive years of economic growth, the Caribbean Community as a whole has suffered an economic downturn over recent years. Due to the region’s strong historical, cultural and trade links with Europe and North America, CARICOM was hit hard by the economic crisis in those regions, highlight-

ing the need to develop trade links with non-traditional markets and boost regional integration. At the CARICOM heads of state summit held in St. Lucia in 2012, President Ramotar addressed the members by stating that “to minimise the economic and social impact which we experience when those areas find themselves in difficulties we must begin to broaden our relations. These include countries that are geographically proximate to ours such as Brazil and with which we have historically strong relations such as China. Our region must respond to these realities by developing closer ties with these countries and also by exploring new frontiers of opportu-nity for beneficial bilateral relations.”With over US$3 trillion in foreign reserves, China is increasingly attracting the attention of groups such as CARICOM who are looking further afield for badly-needed investment. Guyana in particular has been taking advantage of its strong historical relations with China to court investors, portraying a win-win situation for both sides. Guyana, a country the size of Great Britain but with a population of under 800,000 needs foreign investment to develop its infrastructure and industry, while Chinese investors are increasingly eyeing up Guyana’s untapped minerals and natural resources, such as bauxite, timber, gold, diamonds and agriculture.“Guyana is very much a new frontier opportunity, where people from China have been residing since the 1860s,” stated Guyana’s veteran Prime Minister Samuel Hinds. “We are now cooperating on a number of projects with significant involvement from Chinese government or-ganisations and private investments.”

Hope for the futureWhen Xi Jinping was named the new premier of China in March 2013, President Ramotar sent a customary con-gratulatory note. In it he said: “Since the establishment

of diplomatic relations, our two countries have enjoyed a very special relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation. It is my hope that during your tenure we can take our bilateral relations to a new level for the mutual benefit of our two countries and peoples.”The meeting between the two leaders last summer in Trinidad and Tobago was the latest step in this special relationship that could transform Guyana while providing China with a reliable regional partner and a platform for trade and investment into the Latin American and Caribbean region.President Ramotar in a recent interview called for the continuation of this special relationship and extended his welcome to prospective Chinese investors and partners:

“Guyana and China have a long history. Our relationship goes back a long way and that relationship is going from strength to strength. China has been an extremely good and reliable partner in our own develop-ment. The relationship with China is one that we in Guyana value very much and I want to ensure investors that if they come here they’ll find welcoming people for their investment in our society and I’m sure it will be done to our mutual benefit.”

Timeline: Guyana and China's relationship1853The f irst Chinese arr ived in Guyana as indentured labourers working on the colony’s sugar plantations.

1972 Guyana becomes the f irst English-speaking Caribbean countr y to recognise the People’s Republic of China

2004 Guyana signed a bilateral i n v e s t m e n t t r e a t y w i t h China

2013 President Xi Jinping meets w i th P resident Ramot ar as he visits the CARICOM Heads of State summit.

Che Jian PingChairman of the New Thriving Restaurant

“I came here on holiday in

1992, but I realised that

there were a lot of opportunities

so I stayed.”

The New Thriving RestaurantConveniently located in the heart of Georgetown, the New Thriving Res-taurant has become something of a local landmark, with Guyanese and

tourists alike flocking to eat there. Its owner, Chinese immigrant Che Jian Ping founded the restaurant in 1993 af ter coming to Guyana on holiday in 1992 and struggling to find good fast food. Today, her restaurant is renowned for its efficient service and outstanding Chinese cuisine – with a Guyanese twist. Now a naturalised Guyanese citizen, Che Jian Ping is expanding her hospitality business out into the greater region; she plans

to open restaurants in neighbouring Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as venture into Guyana’s ho-tel industry. Perhaps most notably, though, she has recently opened a restaurant in China – the first case of Guyanese investment back into the PRC, and potential the beginning of more “reverse investment” to come, as Guyana’s citizens star t to take advantage of what their biggest eco-nomic partner has to offer.

At the heart of the region:

Guyana is a founding member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a regional organisation of 15 Caribbean states and dependencies created in 1973 to promote economic integration and co-ordinate foreign policy among its members. The secretariat’s headquarters are based in Guyana’s capital Georgetown. The nation is also a found-ing member of the South American bloc UNASUR and an associate member of the regional customs union MERCOSUR, making Guyana along with Suriname the only two countries spanning the three organisations. As such Guyana is becoming an increasingly attractive option as a trade and investment platform across the South American and Caribbean region.

CARICOM provides Guyana with a stable economic and politi-cal platform through which to conduct business with China. China’s vice-premier Wang Qishan met CARICOM leaders at the China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forums to facilitate trade and economic cooperation.

Guyana was the first English-speaking Caribbean country to recognise the People’s Republic of China in 1972. Today, after more than 41 years of friendship and cooperation, the bilateral relationship continues to flourish as China begins to play a key role in the region and its investments transform the South American nation.

Bilateral relations between China a nd Guya na have a long and established history. In 1853 the first Chinese ar-rived in what was then known as British Guiana to work as indentured labourers on the British colony’s sugar planta-tions. Over the decades that followed, the territory’s ethnic Chinese population migrated into other sectors and became a key component in the coun-try’s economic development and ethnic mix. On Guyana’s independence in 1966, steps were soon taken to promote ties between the two nations. At a time when the U.S. was leading global efforts to re-sist recognition of the People’s Republic of China as the true representative of the Chinese people at the United Nations, Guyana stuck its neck out and was the first English-speaking Caribbean country to recognise the PRC in 1972, establishing formal diplomatic relations. Guyana also declared itself a strong supporter of the One China Policy and bilateral relations have gone from strength to strength ever since. “Our relationship with China goes back for centu-ries. Our party has a very good relationship with the Chinese Communist Party and we were always sup-portive of China, long before they got a seat at the UN,” explained Guyana’s President Donald Ramo-tar. Indeed as early as 1960, former President Janet Jagan visited China, meeting with Chairman Mao and laying the foundations for decades of friendship and cooperation between the two parties.The past four decades have seen ties between the two nations consolidated with frequent cooperation in

the political, economic, diplomatic and cultural spheres. “Since the founding of our dip-lomatic ties, there have been con-stant high-level exchanges between the two sides,” declared President Xi Jinping after a high-level meet-ing between the two leaders in June 2013 at the CARICOM summit in Trinidad & Tobago. “A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near,” said the president, quoting an ancient Chinese proverb.In recent years Guyana has thrown open its doors to investment and encouraged Chinese nationals and businesses to get involved in the myriad of opportunities that this virgin land presents. Three years ago the government granted automatic citizenship to Chinese nationals that had lived legally in the country for more than seven

years. Chinese nationals currently make up the larg-est foreign nationality presence in Guyana.Today some of the largest projects taking place in Guyana are being done through Chinese companies, financing and cooperation. The renovation of Ched-di Jagan International Airport, the construction of the Marriott Hotel, the Guyana International Con-ference Centre (GICC), a modern sugar factory in Skeldon, upgrades to the nation’s transmission and distribution lines and the 20.7 MW Kingston Power Plant are all recent examples of China’s key role in Guyana’s development.Chinese involvement has also been mooted in the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project, while the Chi-nese government has donated two roll-on/roll-off ferries and is a major contributor to the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme. In health, Guyana is the only South American country to have an agree-

Why Guyana matters to China

GeopoliticsGuyana is a founding m e m b e r o f C A R I CO M and UNASUR, as well as an associate member o f M E R CO S U R g i v i n g the countr y a key role in regional affairs. With increased integration into Caribbean and Latin American political and economic s t r uc tures, Guyana is transforming itself into a gateway to the region.

Investment opportunitiesIn a country the size of Great Britain with a small populat ion, there are plenty of opportunities to invest in Guyana’s devel-oping economy. There are opportunities for inves-tors in almost every sec-tor, with vast untapped natural resources in the country’s interior a par-ticular draw for investors.

Historic supportGuyana was one of the f i r s t count r ies in the western world to recog-nise the Beijing govern-ment as the true repre-sentative of the Chinese people in 1972 and has b e e n a s t aunch sup -porter of the One China Policy ever since.

Chinese investment in Guyana

Airport expansionOn 31st October 2012 the Government of China agreed to lend US$ 130 million to the Guyanese gover nment for the expansion and upgrade of the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airpor t (CJIA). The China Harbour Engineering Company is taking a leading role by providing f inancing and extending the runway. The project comprises a new 16,000 square metre terminal building and aims to make CJIA a regional hub.

Marriott HotelWork is currently underway to construct a Marriott Hotel in Guyana’s capital George-town. T he 197-room hotel will become the f irst major branded hotel in the South A mer ican nat ion with the design and build contract given to Shanghai Construc-tion Group. The planning for the hotel, which is scheduled to open in August 2014, has been long in the making and has been overseen by Guy-ana’s Atlantic Hotel Inc., a subsidiary of NCIL.

BosaiIn December 2006 China’s Bosai Minerals Inc. expanded into Guyana by acquiring a 70 percent stake in Omai Bauxite Mining’s operations in the re-gion of Linden, including gold and diamond mines. With an estimated 186 million tonnes of bauxite reser ves the op-eration is a major source of revenue for the countr y. In 2012 Bosai announced a ma-jor US$100 million expansion project which will include a 50 megawatt power plant and will result in the creation of hundreds of jobs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Guyanese President Donald Ramotar in Trinidad and Tobago, June 2013.

What role is Guyana playing in the international community nowa-days?Guyana is a founding member of CARICOM and still plays a central role. We are also part of UNASUR. Situated between CARICOM and South America, geographically we’re in an advantageous spot,

while being a founding member of CARICOM means we have 40 years of experience in an integra-tion movement. Most of our South American neighbours don’t have that sort of experience, so while we’re small, we have certain experi-ence that we can bring to the union.

What is your assessment of bilat-eral relations between China and Guyana?Guyana and China are all-weather friends. We were the f irst coun-try to establish diplomatic rela-tions with China in this par t of the world and we enjoy excellent relations, as evidenced by some

of the cooperation projects cur-rently underway. Chinese invest-ments are welcome in Guyana and we are working on relations on a cultural level. We have to ensure that we have the correct formula so we all benef it f rom this relationship.Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

Minister of Foreign Affairs

“The most important f actor in Guyana’s growth has been its resources, from timber to gold, diamonds and bauxite.”

George ZhaoGeneral Manager of Bosai Minerals Group Guyana

A history of friendshipWriter: Oliver Moss

Guyana’s first presidentArthur Chung

Born in Guyana in 1918, Arthur Chung was a distinguished

politician elected by the National Assembly to become the first

president of Guyana upon becom-ing a republic in 1970. Born to a

father of ethnic Chinese origin and a Trinidadian mother, he came to

symbolise the cultural melting pot of Guyana and was a symbol of

stability in times of ethnic tension. He also made history as the first ethnic Chinese head of state of a non-Asian country. He served

as president of 1980 and died in 2008, having been awarded Guy-

ana’s highest national honour, the Order of Excellence.

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德梅拉拉银行

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德梅拉拉银行

Writer: Oliver Moss

With steady economic growth and an increasing role in regional affairs, President Ramotar and Prime Minister Hinds are the leaders looking to boost Guyana’s image and create new opportunities for its international partners.

Q&ADonald RamotarPresident of Guyana

Q&ASamuel HindsPrime Minister

What does Guyana offer China as a strategic partner?First of all our geographic lo-cation. We are a gateway to South America and the sixth largest economy in the world, Brazil. Guyana has a lot of un-developed resources; mining is becoming more important and we can attract investment in large-scale agriculture and in the tourism sector. Being a native English-speaking coun-try is also an advantage and we are a multicultural, multi-ethnic society.

What steps are you taking to become a developed nation?For us to reach developed country status we need new infrastructure and that is what we’re pursuing. One of the most important achievements would be f inding cheap en-ergy to attract investment in industry, manufacturing and processing.

What would you like your lega-cy to be?I would be happy when I leave this post if I leave the country better off than the way I found it. If the way of life of the peo-ple is better, our infrastructure is more reliable and our legal framework and security situa-tion is improved, that would be a great source of satisfaction to me.

What are you doing to improve the international perception of Guyana?The Low Carbon Development Strategy which was developed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo brought a certain rec-ognition to Guyana. Our partic-ipation in UNASUR, MERCOSUR and CARICOM has also raised our image.

What would be your assess-ment of the relationship be-tween China and Guyana?The first Chinese came to Guy-ana around 1860 and we’ve had a sig ni f ic ant Chinese component in Guyana since then. Following our recogni-tion of the PRC in 1972 we have had support from the Chinese government and signif icant involvement from Chinese pri-vate investments.

What projects are underway to upgrade Guyana’s infrastruc-ture?We’ve been working on the Amaila Falls project which has the potential to reduce the cost of power generation by about a half. There is the upgrade of the transmission system for our national grid and we have the construction of the Mar-riott Hotel. A Chinese company is also present in the expan-sion of the airport, providing the f inancing and extending the runway.

Having been sworn in as the seventh president of Guyana in December 2011, Donald Ramo-tar has spent the last two years building on the economic and social policies of his predecessor Bharrat Jagdeo, looking to forge a bright new economic and po-litical future for this untamed and resource-rich land. However it wasn’t always this way. In the 1970s and 80s, when President Ramotar was a young memb er of t he opposit ion People’s Progressive Party, he witnessed the severe economic crises that crippled the country with the public debt-to-GDP ra-tio hitting 500 percent by 1988.“When we took government in 1992, Guyana was a heavily in-debted poor country. It was in ruins in many ways – both its physical and social infrastruc-ture,” recalls President Ramot-ar. The past seven years of con-tinuous economic growth are testament to the turn-around in fortunes.However, 2011’s election vic-tory for Ramotar’s PPP fell just short of the majority they had enjoyed in Guyana’s parl ia-ment since they gained power in 1992. Recognising the will of the people, Ramotar pledged to work to build a consensus with opposition parties and urged all sides to, “cast aside our partisan cloaks and to put on national garb, to work hand-in-hand to

consolidate and advance the gains that have been made over the years.”While stressing that he would work to continue to improve government ser-vices and social conditions, such as housing, education, health and en-ergy security, Ramotar and his Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has held the position for the best part of the last 21 years, have emphasised their desire to develop Guyana’s

infrastructure. They want to see the nation play a greater role in regional affairs while reaching out to new international partners.“Our participation in UNASUR, MERCO-SUR and CARICOM has raised our image. We have traditional relations with India

and China, and we’re looking to establish an embassy in Africa at some point,” highlighted Prime Minister Hinds. Guyana is a founding member of both CARICOM and UNASUR,

while in July 2013 Guyana was made an associate member of MERCOSUR, the South Ameri-can customs union.Indeed, Ramotar has been us-ing the platform of Guyana’s membership of these blocs to push forward regional integra-tion and boost trade between the region and the interna-tional community. With the economic problems that have aff licted much of Europe and North America who are Guy-ana’s traditional trade partners, Ramotar has been taking active steps to push for closer ties with its Latin American neighbours and China.“The global economy is under-going rapid structural changes with growth driven today by new and emerging centres of economic activity such as Brazil and China. Our region must respond to these realities by developing closer ties with these countries,” signalled Ramotar in a speech to the CARICOM heads of state in 2012.Guyana shares a border with Brazil in its south, yet with the vast majority of Guyana’s popu-lation and infrastructure along its northern coast and rainforest covering over 80 percent of the interior, the potential to increase trade and boost t ies is only now blossoming. Ramotar has championed plans to construct the all-weather Linden-Lethem highway linking Brazil to Guy-ana’s coast and a deep-

water Panamax port at Berbice, creating a vital trade and transport corridor between South America, the Caribbean Community and on to China and the rest of the world. “Our infrastructure projects, while of national significance will form part of the wider South American physical in-tegration programme,” said President Ramotar.Ambitious perhaps, but it is all a far cry from the crises of the 1970s and 1980s, and President Ramotar is hopeful that his efforts to connect and forge links with the international community will bring the investment needed to allow Guyana to move towards developed nation status. “My conviction is that Guyana can be a far better place; that we can compete much more with the rest of the world and that we can do it faster,” affirmed Ramotar.

Leading the way

Bio1950Donald Ramotar was born on the 22nd October 1950 in Essequibo County

1967Joined the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)

1997Appointed General Secretary of the PPP having previ-ously served as Executive Secretary

2011On December 3rd Donald Ramotar was sworn in as the 7th President of Guyana, pledging to continue the policies of his predecessor Bharrat Jagdeo

Bio1943Born on the 27th December in Ma-

haicony, Guyana

1992 Appointed prime

minister for the first time following the

election victory of the alliance between the PPP and Hinds’ own party Civic

1997Briefly serves as the 5th President of Guy-ana upon the death of President Cheddi Jagan, before resuming post of Prime Minister

2011Awarded the Order of Excellence, Guyana’s

highest national award

“For us to reach developed country status we need new infrastructure and that is what we’re pursuing.”

“There are both large-scale and smaller scale oppor-tunities, and there is a continuous trickle of Chinese persons

making Guyana their home.”

Leaders’ viewpoints

Guyana’s relationship with China:

Donald Ramotar “We played a big role in making our region aware of China and its impor-

tance to the world.”Samuel Hinds

“We are now cooperating on a number of projects with significant involve-

ment from Chinese government organisations and private investments.”

Key infrastructure projects:

Donald Ramotar“We are looking at big

infrastructure projects like a highway that will link Guyana to Brazil and a deep-water harbour.”

Samuel Hinds“We have been working

on the Amaila Falls project which has the potential to reduce the cost of power

generation by about a half.”

Guyana’s competitive advantages for investors:

Donald Ramotar“Over the last year we

have reduced corporation taxes, and there is no

restriction on the repa-triation of earnings. We are improving our social infrastructure, creating

an educated workforce to try to attract even higher

levels of investment.”Samuel Hinds

“Location, language and a labour force that is train-able and cost-effective.”

In June 2009 Guyana’s former President Bharrat Jagdeo gained international recognition when he launched his country’s Low Carbon Develop-ment Strategy (LCDS), a model for development that aimed to strike a balance between environ-mental conser vation and combatting climate change while allowing for sustainable economic development.

With more than 80 million acres of untouched rainforest and a coastline under threat from ris-ing sea levels, President Jagdeo’s strategy has put Guyana at the forefront of global efforts to tackle climate change. Under the LCDS, Guyana stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for the successful preservation of its pristine rainforest through a deal based on car-

bon credits with Norway.In 2010 President Jagdeo received the United Nations Environmental Pro-gramme (UNEP) Champion of the Ear th award for his strategy, and declared that “it is possible to create a better, environmentally sustainable national economy without compromising our citizens’ legitimate aspirations for increased prosperity.”

Writer: Oliver Moss

The green president Bharrat Jagdeo，former president of Guyana

“We don’t discriminate between domestic and foreign investors and there is free repatriation of profit and dividends.” Winston BrassingtonExecutive director of NICIL

Q&ADr. Ashni Kumar SinghMinister of Finance

How is the government ac-tively attracting investment to Guyana?The task before us has been to create an environment that is conducive to creating economic growth including macroeconomic stability, a suitable legislative and regu-latory environment, promot-ing Guyana as an investment destination and putting in place the pre-requisites for diversif y ing the economy including investment in infra-structure.

To what do you attribute the seven conse cuti ve years of positive grow th of the country and how can Guyana fur ther capitalise on this momentum?We have been actively pro-moting diversification in the economy, implementing spe-cific policies that contribute to economic growth; things l ike pr omot ing domes t ic home ownership and home construction. There is a huge construction boom taking place in Guyana not just in

home construction but also in commercial construction.

How do you assess the re-lationship between Guyana and China and how can it be fur ther streng thened and deepened?China provides ver y valu-able development suppor t to Gu y ana. T here is al so what I would call a business and commercial relat ion-ship, which has grown from streng th to streng th with Chinese and Guyanese com-panies doing business in each other’s countries with increasing frequency. Guya-nese companies very actively buy mater ials and goods from China for redistribution in Guyana and there are many Chinese companies which do business in Guyana. Increas-ingly, Chinese companies are looking to Guyana as a place to do business, whether it is to export goods or services.

What do you think Guyana can do to become better known internationally?I think Guyana is a country whose potential has been recognised for a long time. We have a vast endowment of val-uable natural resources and a pool of very talented, well-educated and easily trainable human resources. For a long time, the world has spoken of Guyana’s potential, or at least those who know it have. For a variety of reasons it has taken us some time to get to a point where that potential can be realised and I would like to see that potential realised.

For years Guyana was recognised for its investment opportunities. Now, it is making strides in realising that potential.

A natural investment choiceWriter: Jonathan Andrews

Only the size of Shandong province in China but with a population of fewer than 1 million, Guyana is abundant in natural resources and rich in fertile land. Gold and bauxite have been the basis of the country’s consistently positive GDP growth rate for the past seven years. As the rest of the Caribbean reports sluggish aver-age growth rates of 1.6 percent, Guyana’s has reached almost 4 percent for the first half of this year. Possessing a 459-kilometre Atlantic coastal zone on one side and vast virgin savannahs and rivers on the other, the country holds enormous opportunities in develop-ing mega-farms and large-scale aquaculture. Not want-ing to destroy its natural forests and pristine coastline, the country makes strenuous efforts to protect them through the Low Carbon Development Strategy, which is helping create a burgeoning eco-tourism sector.“Many other countries have achieved accelerated eco-nomic development at the expense of their natural en-vironment,” explains Dr. Ashni Kumar Singh, minister of finance. “Guyana has in fact been highlighted as a model in this regard for environmental responsibility.”Although located in South America, Guyana is the only country on the continent whose national language is English. A growing ICT sector has been able to utilise this in the establishment of call centres and business process outsourcing. This has seen the sector become the fastest job creator in the last 10 years, tapping into a well-educated and highly affordable workforce.As a member of the 15-country Caribbean Commu-nity and Common Market (CARICOM), investors in Guyana have the benefit from free trade access to over 277 million consumers including neighbouring pow-erhouse Brazil and Venezuela as an associate member of MERCOSUR.

“As the home of CARICOM, Georgetown is to CARI-COM what Brussels is to Europe,” says Dr. Singh. “We have trade agreements with Europe and we’re in the same time zone as the east coast of America. Our prox-imity to Brazil and Suriname means that Guyana is even doubly attractive.” Supporting all these opportunities is a stable macro-economic environment, including a low inflation rate of 3.5 percent, led by a national assembly whereby all major parties support a market-oriented approach to economic growth. The 2004 investment act paved the way to foster foreign investment, including the enact-ment that same year of a bilateral investment treaty with China–alongside only seven other countries.Key components of the legislation include a flat busi-ness tax rate, a one-stop shop agency GO—Invest to fa-cilitate the investment process, the right for foreigners to purchase or acquire land and tax-free exports.“We don’t discriminate between domestic and for-eign investors and there is free repatriation of profit and dividends,” says Winston Brassington, executive director of National Industrial and Commercial In-vestments (NICIL), Guyana’s equity and asset holding company. “We have an open environment and an open investing climate.”

76 Guyana

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What are some of the achievements that you are most proud of?Developing a bank as a local bank that is the best in terms of services and growth. You can feel that this is a truly Guya-nese bank.

Do you plan to expand the bank’s footprint?We are currently survey-ing locat ions for new branches throughout the country, mostly outside Georgetown.

What other projects are in the pipeline?W e w a n t t o s e t u p a mutual fund and make available certain money m a r k e t i n s t r u m e n t s which can be used by de-positors. This obviously depends on the regula-tory framework.

How do you see the invest-ment future for Guyana?Guyana is a great place, the Guyanese are a very good set of people and the bank has a great fu-ture working as a catalyst for the economic and so-cial development of the country and its people.

Trust and confidence are key factors for any investor, whether they be interna-tional or local. Guyana’s first indigenous private sector bank, Demerara Bank has cultivated that trust to help it post 10 years of continuous record profits and be-come the preferred bank in the country.In only its 19th year of operation the

commercial bank announced in Novem-ber this year a G$1.9 billion profit. With capital adequacy levels between 26 and 28 percent, Demerara Bank also fulfils the requirements of the Basel III bank-ing accord–a voluntary global regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy and stress testing.While taking in record profits the bank is quick to note that it is one of the larg-est wealth creators in the country. Its share price alone has risen from G$1 in 2002 to G$30 today. A certain portion is also spent on corporate social responsi-bility with the bank identifying certain students and sponsoring their education fees. Providing a customer orientated ap-proach and quick decision-making on credit from well-trained staff have been key, according to Pravinchandra Dave,

CEO. “In many other banks you will see big queues but in our bank they don’t exist,” he says. “Back office work can be done after hours.”Along with providing standard bank-ing services Demerara Bank was the first bank to introduce mobile point of sale operations and is planning to introduce mobile banking. High levels of technol-ogy also led Demerara Bank to enter into an agreement in September this year with Visa to produce its own cards.“There are fundamental strengths of banking,” says Dave. “One is the trust you have in the bank, the second is the confidentiality, the third is the safety of funds and the fourth is the return on your investment. If you are able to fulfil all of these fundamental principles, your satisfied customer becomes your ambas-sador and that’s what we are aiming for.”

Oil exploration to continue

Sitting next to oil-rich Ven-ezuela, Guyana has yet to discover any of its estimated 2.2 billion barrels of offshore oil and 28.3 bil l ion cubic metres of gas. Four compa-nies are currently exploring the Guyana Basin including Repsol which has undertaken evaluations since 1997. A ta x-exempt exploration stage and favourable produc-tion sharing contracts make the country competitive. A UN International Tribunal Ruling in 2007 settled the maritime boundar y between Guyana and Suriname although a for-mal maritime border settle-ment with Venezuela is still pending.Despite Repsol not striking oil and in the process spending US$250 million the company is confidently staying put and has entered a new contract, commit ted to under taking two seismic surveys followed by possible drilling.

With more than three decades of cen-tral banking experience, Lawrence T. Williams represents a safe pair of hands for the Bank of Guyana.

“[Guyana’s] positive growth has to do with the meas-ures we put in place to achieve macroeconomic stabil-ity and the investments made in ensuring the environ-ment is conducive to foreign investment.”Lawrence T. Williams, Governor of the Bank of Guyana

Perspectives

Q&AMr Pravinchandra DaveCEO of Demerara Bank Limited

Corporate profile

Many sugar sachets around the world are stamped with the label ‘Demerara”. Unbeknown to most, this refers to the sugar-rich former Dutch colony that now forms part of modern Guyana.Sugar is a pillar of the Guyanese economy. Latest fig-ures show it accounts for nearly 12 percent of GDP and over 20 percent of Guyana’s exports. Together with other mainstay products, like rice, agriculture provides one fifth of the country’s total GDP. “Agriculture continues to be impor ta nt but even w ithin agriculture there has been di-versif ication,” says Dr. Ashni Kumar Singh, minister of f i-nance. “Other crops are being produced; fruits, vegetables and fish are being farmed and ex-ported.”Opportunities ex ist in l ive-stock, by utilising Guyana’s vast savannahs to raise and export cattle, and in coconut water, crabmeat, poultry, and even soy-beans. Profitable markets in the Caribbean and further af ield for fresh fruits and vegetables are within easy reach due to the quantity of easy-to-cultivate, low lying lands, and well informed, trained local farmers.Value adding and diversification is also reaching the other mainstay of the Guyanese economy: mining. On the back of high commodity prices the resources sec-tor has boomed in the last decade helping to provide 9 percent of the country’s GDP in 2010 from its rich mineral deposits of gold, diamonds and bauxite. De-mand from China for bauxite to produce aluminium saw in 2006 the Chinese company, Bosai Minerals, step into the local market by purchasing the formerly state-owned Linden Bauxite operations. The company is now expanding its Guyanese opera-tion into meteorological bauxite, used to produce alu-minium. “If we are successful with the trial shipment we will then increase capacity,” says George Zhao, general manager of Bosai Minerals, “which means more equipment and more manpower to operate it” Further prospects lie in redeveloping manganese in the northwest of the country and possibly iron ore, and exploring potential discoveries of platinum, co-lumbite and other rare earths in the south of Guyana.Competing for investor attention in the vast virgin lands of Guyana is the forestry sector. Covering three quarters of the country, Guyana’s forests hold oppor-tunities for harvesting, exporting and for procuring Forest Stewardship Council certification to advance products for niche markets.“There are opportunities but we have to respect all of the environmental requirements,” says Winston Brassington, executive director of Guyana’s equity and asset holding company, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd. “There is a lot of oppor-tunity for value-added production in forestry. Right now we export our logs and we’d like to encourage

greater utilisation of that locally.”On the back of a housing construction boom the for-est industry has faced rising demand. In the last dec-ade 12 percent of government investment was poured into the housing sector, generating 8 percent of GDP which saw nearly 80,000 houses built. This not only

created direct jobs for masons, carpenters and engineers but increased demand for other in-dustries that provide products and services to homebuilders.“Opportunit ies abound for investors,” explains Irfaan Ali, minister of housing and water and minister of tourism, in-dustry and commerce. “These include investment in cement bagging plants, wood process-ing, the timber and forestry sec-tors… and in heavy equipment for the transportation of build-ing materials, accessories and products.”Cautious of over-reliance on traditional sectors the govern-ment is actively collaborating with international companies to step into new fields as part

of its national development Strategy. The Guyanese government sold last year a 20 percent stake in its larg-est telecom company, GT&T, to a Chinese group, as it increases its ICT capabilities and presence in the call centre sector. “Today, we have a number of companies providing ICT services that employ thousands of people in Guyana,” explains Dr. Singh. “That sector didn’t ex-ist 10 years ago. You have all those other sectors as well contributing to economic growth which reduces your overall vulnerability to any one sector or any one commodity price.” Challenges do remain in infrastructure, yet Guyanese officials paint those very challenges as opportunities. The pontoon-f loating Berbice Bridge is one example of a new infrastructure project the government has undertaken with the private sector–the country’s first build-own-operate-transfer P3 project.Linking Brazil and Guyana with a paved road is another plan currently being examined to open up new markets and link it with a possible deep-water harbour and export processing zone at the mouth of the Berbice River. Although negotiations over a hydroelectric dam at Amaila Falls are ongoing, it has the potential for the country become energy self-sufficient and turn Guyana into a renewable energy exporter.Guyana readily admits that it is still very much an emerging country but with boundless opportuni-ties which that entails. “In doing business in Guy-ana [investors] can both contribute to their own business objectives and at the same time contribute to Guyana’s economic development objectives,” says Dr. Singh. “Those two objectives are complimenta-ry. The Guyana of today is a Guyana that is attrac-tive to global business.”

What are Guyana’s com-petitive advantages?The infrastructure is im-proving with substantial investments going into water, electr icit y and telecommunicat ions , and our roads, schools, hospitals, airports and housing are all improv-ing. We have a lot of opportunities because of our endow ment of natural resources.

What will the new Mar-riott Hotel project mean for Georgetown? It will provide substantial direct and indirect local employment opportuni-ties and I think we will see an increase in tour-ism traffic to Guyana. It will provide substantial direct and indirect local employment opportuni-ties and I think we will see an increase in tour-ism traffic to Guyana.

In what areas is there room for international companies to collabo-rate?There are a lot of oppor-tunities for infrastruc-ture and we are looking to do this using a private sector concession mod-el, such as the build-own- operate -t ransfer model. We are not averse to private investors com-ing and building huge infrastructure projects and recovering their in-vestment by way of tolls.

H o w w o u l d y o u l i k e Guyana to be perceived by investors and by the world?We are open to invest-ment and we have sub-stantial oppor tunities in ever y major sector including infrastructure, mining, t r adable and non-tradable sectors. We have been witness-ing a lot of foreign in-vestment and this itself is an indicator that the fundamentals to attract investment are in the right place.

Winston BrassingtonE x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r o f N a t i o n a l I n d u s -trial Commercial Invest-ments Ltd

“We have been witnessing a lot of foreign invest-ment and this itself is an indica-tor that the funda-mentals to attract investment are in the right place.”

InfrastructureT he e x pansion and mod-er nisat ion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was unveiled this year. Part f inanced by China to the value of US$130 million, the upgrades include a newly ex-tended runway that will now accommodate larger aircraft. Although most large-scale invest ment s in Guyana’s infrastructure are govern-ment projects f inanced by international lending institu-tions, NICIL explicitly seeks to at t r act foreig n invest-ment through public private partnerships. Opportunities ab o und in h ydr o ele c t r ic projects and road and bridge construction.

ForestryC h i n a F o r e s t r y I n d u s t r y Group is establishing a Wood Economic and Trade Coop-eration Park in Linden. The initial investment of US$500 million will help build a wood processing park and areas laid out for shipbuilding, woodworking, and machin-er y. I t will also include a shopping centre to showcase finished products manufac-tured from the plant.

AgricultureFifty percent of the popula-tion remain rural and closely linked to agr iculture. The country includes highly fer-tile soils in coastal areas, large areas of f lat irrigated lands, virgin tracts of savan-nahs, and opportunities for organic production due to untouched land free of agri-cultural chemicals.

TourismNew investments in the sec-tor totalling G$25 billion aim to create further employment to support the 12.6 percent increase in v isi tors seen in 2012. This year a rating system was introduced to im-prove service and standards at hotels and restaurants. The Marriott Hotel, due to open next year, will be the f irst major brand hotel to open in Guyana since the Pegasus Hotel opened its doors in 1969.

Guyana shifts towards greater diversity

Areas of opportunityQ&A With a small population

Guyana recognises that its future relies upon foreign investment and is intent on courting investment to extract more from its tradi-tional sectors and explore new opportunities.

Guyana’s core investment targets remain natural resources and agriculture but the country is moving to diversify these sectors and transfer into new services and industries.

GO-Invest is the official government investment agency that liaises on behalf of investors and exporters with government ministries and other agencies. It provides assistance in the process of registering a business and in meeting governmen-tal standards and requirements.

“The agencies facilitating role assures investors that the private and the public sectors in Guyana’s economy share precisely the interests most conducive to an open economy.”Keith Burrowes, Chairman of GO-Invest

Corporate profile

Top products El Dorado rum has been produced along the banks of the Demerara River for over three centuries by Demerara Distillers. Rums ranging from three to 25 years have consistently won top awards at the International Wine and Spirits Competition for their unique flavours due to the tropical climate of Guyana. Top markets include continental Europe, Russia, North America and throughout the Caribbean.

El Dorado

Georgetown’s eye-catching Gothic City Hall dating from 1889.

Writer: Jonathan Andrews

Demerara Bank LimitedWriter: Jonathan Andrews

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Guyanese business icon goes out on top

How would you define your management style?I’ve travelled extensively and my style is that you have got to ensure that the person you employ is the right person for the job. Then you leave them to get on with the job. It’s only when they fail that you call them up. This has worked very well. We have an open door policy in all of our companies. Any employee, irrespective of status, if they feel they’ve been treated badly, starts first with their own manager then goes up the chain. Finally, if they don’t get satisfac-tion, they can come to me. I think that has been

part of our success; every employee is aware that they can do this.

What role does Demerara Distilleries Limited, which is a household name in Guyana and pro-duces the famous El Dorado rum, play in the economy?We play several roles, because we’re in several areas of business and we have a large employ-ment role. El Dorado is a success story not only locally but in the Caribbean and globally. We’re very proud of that. It wasn’t easy to create something from zero in a third world country and get it marketed in most of the advanced countries. We’re throughout continental Eu-rope and we sell into Russia. We’re very strong in Canada and the USA and our brand is known throughout the Caribbean.

How feasible is Guyana’s aim to attain devel-oped nation status?We have a long way to go to get developed na-tion status. We have to grow a lot more and the wealth will have to be more evenly distributed.

What have been some of the business mile-stones you have reached over the years?When we opened the bank we opened it with the ver y latest in technolog y. At the time, there were no banks with ATMs and inter-national connections for credit cards, so we brought in the best computer system that was in existence. We did the same with IPED. We wanted a new computer system and so we called in experts who presented us with various systems and then we decided what we wanted.

Education plays an important part of Persaud’s outlook on life, and indeed his own remarkable life. It was thanks to education that Persaud was able to leave the sugar plantation on which he was born to become an internationally recognised business leader.As his parents were unable to finance his studies, he worked for the Diamond Sugar Plantation and saved money to set sail to England in 1955, aged 27, to study accountancy. “One of my phrases that I coined many years ago is that nothing happens unless you make it happen,” he explains. “You’ve got to make it happen. We are what we make of ourselves.”From those humble beginnings, Per-saud will retire at the top. At the end of this year he leaves his position as execu-tive chairman of Demerara Distilleries Limited where he worked for 48 years and rescued the company from bank-ruptcy. He will remain as chairman of Demerara Bank Limited, where he has nurtured and helped grow the bank to achieve record profits.Both companies are highly successful, and most importantly, local enterprises that Persaud has overseen. The growth of world-acclaimed El Dorado rum has given increased recognition to Guyana, and through the first Guyanese owned bank he has helped increase wealth through share offerings, greater finan-cial services, including internet bank-ing, and access. “Wealth creates wealth but if it’s con-centrated only in certain areas, you get poverty, and poverty multiplies,” Per-saud warns. “The education system also has to be of the highest order because education is the bedrock of success in any country.”Never one to forget his own early strug-gles, Persaud helped establish in 1986 the Institute of Private Enterprise De-velopment to provide finance for people to achieve their own goals. Not merely a micro-credit lending service, the insti-tute provides business training in conjunction with lending servic-es and has to date assisted over 40,000 micro and small businesses in Guyana. “We help people to help themselves, to be their own bosses and to be entrepreneurs,” he says. “Over the years we have spent several million dollars in lending but we don’t lend just like that. We have to go through the background of the person, size them up and en-

courage them to learn the basics. We have a training organisation to back this up so that has been highly successful.”His knowledge and business acumen was garnered not only from his education and experience in England but by adopting his own philosophy of ‘making it happen’ himself. On returning to Guyana in 1965 Persaud moved from the public sector to become finance officer in one of Guyana’s oldest companies, Sandbach Parker.“One of the conditions I made was that I was to be given the oppor-tunity to work in every single department,” he recalls. “I wanted to

learn business from every angle. Within f ive years I had become the group fi-nance director.”This appetite for learning led to a keen interest in Guyana’s international re-lations. He has been chairman of the Caribbean Council for Europe, the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce and is honorary consul for Chile in Guyana.His interests for the country extend be-yond business as he also plays a key phil-anthropic role as head of the Guyana Youth Trust, Cheddi Jagan Children’s Fund, University of Guyana Endowment Fund and Chairman of the Indian Com-memoration Trust.Along with a vast number of the popula-tion, Persaud’s ancestors arrived from India as indentured servants to cover the labour shortages after the emancipation of African slaves. Since assisting in the 150th commemoration, that included the creation of the Monument Garden that marked the first Indian arrivals to Guyana, Persaud has played an integral role in the Indo-Guyanese community and helped in proceedings for the 175th commemoration last year.Recognising these efforts Persaud has received numerous awards, including the Gandhi Organisation Plaque for his contribution to promoting Indian cul-ture, and in 2006 when he was honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

award from the President of India. As he steps down from his position at the distillery and, while not taking an active day to day role in his other chairmanships, Persaud will still keep an eye on proceedings to continue helping Guyana fully realise its opportunities. Although he could return to England or Canada Persaud has announced that he will remain in his homeland to “help people help themselves.”

An entrepreneur and philanthropist, Dr. Yesu Persaud rose from humble beginnings working in Guyana’s sugarcane fields to become the country’s leading business figure. Although retiring from one of his chairmanships, the 85-year-old shows no signs of slowing down as he continues to assist, albeit in a quieter capacity, in Guyana’s business, philanthropy, social and cultural life.

Writer: Jonathan AndrewsWriter: Jonathan Andrews

“One of my phrases that I coined many years ago is that nothing happens un-less you make it happen. We are what we make of ourselves.”

Demerara Distillers GroupKnown for producing Guyana’s award-winning El Dorado rum, the company is now focused on penetrating global markets and bringing increased recogni-tion to Guyana. Included in the group are other local subsidiar-ies that deal with shipping and distribution. It also has over-seas subsidiaries in Europe, North America and St. Kitts.

Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED)As a loan provider the institute provides for micro to medium-sized enterprises that don’t have access to t r adi t ional banking. Set-up in 1986, the co-founder, Dr. Persaud, recog-nised the absolute necessity to re-create a culture of free enterprise after years of state control. By stimulating the emergence of small businesses and self-employment the insti-tute has so far assisted 40,000 Guyanese enterprises.

International honours

A s an associate fellow for 12 years at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, Persaud in 2008 was presented with an honourar y doctorate recognising his busi-ness record. Two years later, the Centre was renamed the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies in honour of the busi-nessman and in recognition of his continued support and work for centre for which has become one of Europe’s leading establish-ments for Caribbean scholarship. It was the first such centre in the UK to recognise the significance of the Caribbean region and its historically interdependent link-ages with the UK and the world.

Dr. Yesu Persaud Outgoing Executive Chairman of Demerara Distillers Limited, Chairman of Demerara Bank Limited and Founder of the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED)

Q&A

“I star ted IPED from scratch. We help pe ople to help themselves, to be their own bosses and to be entrepreneurs.”

Fisheries:In 2013 the government drafted a fisheries management plan to ensure sustainability within the sector as well as expanding aq-uaculture and shielding national protected areas along its coast.

Forest:In 2010 the government signed the sec-ond largest deforestation programme (REDD+) in the world with Norway. De-forestation rose from 0.054 percent in 2012 to 0.079 percent in 2013, although these are still some of the lowest rates in the Americas.

Mining:The Natural Resources & Environment Min-istry has launched a 2013-2018 Strategic Framework to reduce degradation caused by the sector as well as implementing codes of practice on mining to decrease the use of mercury.

From fisheries to mining, Guyana is a diverse catch

Blessed with vast natural resources, Guyana is quickly becoming a new frontier in exploration for some of the world’s most in-demand resources. Considerable deposits of gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese and other precious metals can be found across the nation. Chinese and Canadian companies are among those who have invested in the country’s booming mining sector with some 17,000 employed in the industry. In addition, Guyana’s pristine eco-system is home to millions of hectares of forest and abundant fish and seafood, generating additional wealth and providing employment for tens of thousands. Together the mining, fisheries, agriculture and forestry sectors amount for over 30 percent of Guyana’s GDP with gold alone accounting for over 50 percent of export revenues.

Gold exploration and extraction has been known in the mineral-rich Guiana Shield since the 16th Century era of co-lonial expansion. Today gold is the leading export of Guyana in terms of value, contributing 78.2 percent of the total value of the mining sector’s output. Last year more than 403,000 ounces (11.3 million grams) of gold were produced with a production value of G$137 billion (US$ 658 million), while for 2013 the Guyana Gold & Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) is projecting production reaching a record 500,000 ounces (14.2 million grams), which would represent an an-nual increase of some 23.2 percent and a growth of almost 100 percent since 2005.

Guyana currently produces over 50,000 metric carats of dia-monds a year, way down from the close to 450,000 metric carats it produced in 2004 as Guyana’s small and medium-scale mining operations switch between diamond and gold in line with commodity price fluctuations. However the industry has been showing signs of recovery posting a 53.97 percent growth for the first half of 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012. Guyana’s diamond industry is focused on the country’s rivers in the far north-west. Belgium and the United Arab Emirates are the two main importers of Guyanese dia-monds, accounting for around 90 percent of Guyana’s dia-mond exports.

Guyana is world renowned for its bauxite reserves and the industry continued to show strong growth in 2012 producing over 2.2 million tonnes of cement grade bauxite, a 12.5 percent growth on 2011. The industry which is centred along a coastal strip around the northern town of Linden, accounted for 18 percent of the country’s total mining sector output and the val-ue exported reached G$31.67 billion (US$ 158.5 million). Bosai Minerals is a majority Chinese-owned company operating in the sector, producing high-value refractory A-grade bauxite, which is produced nowhere else in the world except China.

Fishing is big business in Guyana, both for commerce as well as increasingly for sport. With 459 km of Atlantic coastal waters and much of the interior punctuated by rivers, Guyana has the perfect conditions for a healthy and prosperous fish-eries sector. Shrimps and prawns are Guyana’s major cash cow, contributing 5.6 percent of total export revenues with the United States as its largest export market. The fisheries sector which grew 15.5 percent in 2012 and employs over 15,000 people, contributes some 3 percent to the nation’s GDP, similar to rice production and is subdivided into three segments: marine fishery, inland fishery and aquaculture.

With forests covering over 80 percent of Guyana’s landmass, there are huge opportunities and vast resources in the timber and forestry industry. The sector currently contrib-utes between US$40 million and US$60 million to export earnings, comprising around 3 percent and records an aver-age production figure of 420,000 cubic metres of timber. Plywood and furniture manufacturing are two key products through which the government is hoping to add value to the sector. Guyana’s forests hold over 1,000 species of tree with some 120 currently being logged. Bai Shan Lin is a Chinese company that is active in Guyana’s forestry sector.

In 2010 Guyana’s government awarded four prospecting licenses over a 185 square kilometre area to Reunion Man-ganese, a subsidiary of Canada’s Reunion Gold Corp, to de-velop abandoned manganese mine at Matthews Ridge in the country’s north-west. The mine was run by Union Carbide between 1962 and 1968 producing 1.66 million tonnes dur-ing that period and the government is now hopeful that with new investment and technology Guyana can again become a major manganese producer and exporter. A pre-feasibility study by Reunion Manganese in 2013 revealed proven re-serves of 26.3 million tonnes with an average grade of 14.2 percent manganese.

Industry Voices Guyana Agricultural Pro-ducers’ AssociationGAPA is led by president Ram Prashad and supports development of the non-tra-ditional agricultural sector.

Guyana Geology & Mines CommissionThe GGGMC is the regulatory body that oversees activities in the mining sector, with Rick-ford Vieira its commissioner.

Guyana Gold & Diamond Miners’ AssociationThe GGDMA is the local organisa-tion representing the large, medium and small-scale miners with Patrick Harding serving as its President.

51 percent of Guy-ana’s total export revenues in 2012 were attributed to gold production.

1 percent of Guy-ana’s total export revenue in 2012 stemmed from the diamond mining sector.

11.7 percent of Guyana’s export revenues in 2012 were earned through bauxite production.

3,000 hectares of aquaculture farms can be found in Guyana producing Tilapia and other fish.

20,000 people are employed in Guyana’s forestry sector

750,000 tonnes: projected annual output of manga-nese concentrate from the Mat-thew’s Ridge site.

Guyana’s fish and seafood industry is a traditional source of revenue and employment.

With 18.3 million hectares of tropical rainforest, Guyana is blessed with abundant forest resources.

Guyana has a small but important diamond mining sector with production figures recovering

Guyana is one of the world’s major producers of bauxite and is a key seg-ment of its economy.

After lying dormant for 50 years Guyana is set to start exporting manganese again.

Gold production is Guy-ana’s most valuable mining activity and a major con-tributor to GDP

Environmental conservationGuyana’s government is trying to balance the promotion of a green economy and sustain-able development with the need to harness and develop its wealth of natural resources.

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Sattaur Gafoor has spent more than 60 years working in Guyana’s manufacturing

industry.

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2013年9月30日

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我们在全国拥有五个生产和销售网络，提供优质的商品和服务。

这五个网络包括： (a) Canaan生产基地 (b) Houston商城 (c) 伯比斯RoseHall (d) 帕里卡埃塞奎博东岸 (e) CummingsLodge房产开发

总部： 圭亚那乔治敦德梅拉拉河东岸PlantationHouston1&2区 电话：(592)227-8760 传真：(592)227-8763 电子邮件:nil@guyana.net.gy

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An independent supplement produced by The Report Com

pany

Writer: Paul Burge

What role does Guyana play in the region when it comes to agri-culture?

In the case of sugar, we already are the breadbasket of the Carib-bean. The Guyana Sugar Corpora-tion has been the main supplier of sugar within CARICOM since the early 1990s, while most of the other Caribbean countries that produce sugar do so just for their export market commitment.

What can you tell us about the new Skeldon factory?It was put together by the Chinese under a turnkey contract, while most of the equipment came out of Europe. There is also an elec-tr icit y generation plant which

uses bagasse–the residue from the canes. T hat ’s renewable energy and it’s cheap power. We also export quite a bit to the na-tional grid.

Is there room for international companies to invest into agri-culture and the sugar industry?There has been a lot of interest in g rowing canes to produce ethanol. The Brazilians and the Tr inidadians and the Isr aelis have all been here; there’s been a lot of interest.

Where do you want GuySuCo to be ten years from now?Producing 400,000 tonnes of sugar and being back to where we should be. When Skeldon [the new factory] was started, the idea was also to do refined sugar be-cause there is no sugar refining in the whole of the Caribbean. The problem is we haven’t been pro-ducing enough of the raw material to justify a refinery at this time, but that’s one of the plans we do have in about ten years’ time. We have also been looking at setting up an ethanol plant using molas-ses as a feedstock.

What are the government’s priorities and plans to fur-ther develop agriculture?We believe Guyana can be the breadbasket of the Caribbean. We are proud of the fact that today we are food secure. Our ambi-tion in the coming years is that we will be a nutrition-ally secure country where ag r icul t ur e is not onl y meeting the caloric needs of our pe ople but al so providing the nutrients for healthy living.

What opportunities do you see for the agro fuel sec-tor?We will be commissioning a small protot ype plant that will produce bioetha-nol from cane. We’re going to use a fleet of about 30 vehicles that are going to utilise the bioethanol to fuel. We see a huge oppor-tunity for investors to come into the agro fuel industry.

How do you think China and Guyana could further strengthen their relation-ship from an agricultural perspective?C hina hos te d t he f i r s t China-Latin America and Car ibbean ministers of ag r icul t ur e me e t ing in Beijing. I went and visited the Chinese Academy for Agriculture Science. It was quite revealing; the kind of work they’re doing both in farming technology and in ag r icul t ur al science made me aware that we are limiting ourselves by not interacting with all the potential partners. The op-portunities are enormous. I want China to see Guyana as a destination.

Q&ADr. Leslie RamsammyMinister of Agriculture

“Our people use agriculture as a means of wealth genera-tion,” exclaims Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, minister of agricul-ture. “They are not talking any longer about putting food on the table. They want Blackberrys and iPads.”Guyana has come a long way since 1990, when a far more dire economic outlook was portrayed. It was the poorest CARICOM country and was described as a ‘least-developed highly indebted country’. Yet, by using its strengths in agriculture the country was able to turn that around and within 20 years become designated by the World Bank as a high low- middle-income country. This strong agricultural base began when French, Dutch and English colonialists began to settle the area in the 17th century for the lush lands that now make up modern Guy-ana. Beginning with sugar plantations, indentured labour-ers from India in 1838 then brought with them the skills to cultivate new products including coconuts, dairy and rice.Half a million tonnes of rice were produced this year of which more than a third was exported to Venezuela. Combined with 222,000 tonnes of Guy-ana’s famous demerara sugar, the two stable commodities have boosted ex-ports and contributed significantly to the agriculture sector’s 20.3 percent input to GDP. “Sugar continues to be a big contributor to GDP,” explains Paul Bhim, CEO of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). “We employ 18,000 people, the single largest employer in Guyana, and that’s a huge contribution to the rural economy.”Despite three centuries of farming, only 2.5 percent of Guyana’s lands have been cultivated, leaving huge potential for new products and agri-business-es to set up shop.“We are one of the few countries in the world that still has arable land avail-able for massive expansion,” says Dr. Ramsammy. “We are talking about millions of hectares that can be made available for agriculture but it will require huge investment.”With such an extensive landmass available the easy option for Guyana would be to simply open up more land and ignore current inefficiencies in farming techniques. Yet, Guyana has taken the more difficult path as it wants to become known for efficient and modern farming, and adding value to its products. In July this year, Guyana signed a US$7.32 million country assistance pro-gramme agreement with the CARICOM Development Fund that will assist in modernising the sector. Through the funding, more than 9000 farming households are to gain easier access to farmlands to improve and sustain agriculture production year-round.“We’re losing labour because it is backbreaking work, so the only way to adapt is to change the layout of our fields and configure them for mecha-nised harvesting,” explains Bhim. GuySuCo’s new US$200 million factory is the most modern in the Carib-bean and is beginning to add value to its raw sugar products by packaging its exports to Europe.

Within the next 10 years, the Skeldon-based factory aims to be the first sugar refinery in the Caribbean, and be able to supply the 200,000 tonne regional demand for refined sugar. Science is playing its role too. President Ramotar in August 2013 told an audience during the Caribbean Week of Agricul-ture, hosted in Georgetown, that the agriculturalists of today and tomorrow had to be more educated, use more science and technology and to farm and produce more food. Science has already helped the rice sector produce six tonnes per hectare, compared to 1.5 tonnes 20 years ago. To become a nutritionally secure country, Guyana is pushing diversity in its agriculture sector. “Up to three years ago all broccoli and cauliflower utilised in our families was imported into Guyana,” recalls Dr. Ramsammy. “Today, we import no broccoli or caulif lower. Because we are improving our eco-nomic status, we have gone beyond just filling the belly.”Dr. Ramsammay firmly believes that the country can become

the breadbasket of the region as Guyana has, if not the abundance, then the opportunities for aquaculture, fruit and vegetable production. Free of foot and mouth disease and currently seeking brucellosis free certification, the country lends itself to beef and livestock farming.Being meat sufficient has meant that the vast savannah fields in the inte-rior of Guyana could be used to raise livestock to export to China, both fresh and processed. Dr. Ramsammy unveils that Memorandum’s of Un-derstanding have also been signed-off with Chinese entities to provide land allocation commitments. “Their [Chinese investors’] interest so far has been on the production of things like palm oil and agro fuel, and are looking at our potential for aq-uaculture,” he explains. “And they are looking at fresh fruit and vegetables to be marketed to different countries in the region.”Exporting fresh fruit and vegetables is something Guyana has the potential for although modern post-harvest handling and quality systems to prevent spoilage are needed. As Bhim notes: “If Guyana had the infrastructure in place, you could make an awful lot of money exporting all the fruit it grows to the CARICOM countries.”This has not stopped Guyana from developing the sector, as it has piv-oted to promoting fruit farmers for the countries budding eco- and agro-tourism industry. Last year a plan of action was launched by CARICOM agriculture ministers to strengthen links between agriculture, tourism and hospitality and to connect small farmers to intra-regional markets. New crops are being cultivated to supply local hotels and cruise ships docking in Georgetown.Although keen to promote its agriculture sector, Guyana is not a one-dimen-sional country. It is wisely aware that by playing to its strengths and branch-ing into new fields it will further boost its growing economy.“Guyana is a developing country that is making rapid progress,” summa-rises Dr. Ramsammy. “It is one of the developing countries that has the best chance of becoming a developed country. And when Guyana does that it will do so because it has continued to build success stories around agriculture.”

Agriculture: the key to prosperity

Guyana credits its agriculture sector for getting the country out of a debt level

that hit 700 percent of GDP in the 1990s. Officials are adamant that agriculture will continue to play an

important role in the national aspiration of the country as it sets

its sights on becoming a high middle-income

country by 2020.

Guyana is increasingly looking towards China as a destination for its agricultural products, both fresh and processed.

Q&APaul BhimCEO of GuySuCo

Writer: Jonathan AndrewsWriter: Jonathan Andrews

From basket case to breadbasket: How Guyana’s agriculture sector transformed the country

Agriculture has been a part of Guyana's history since its days as a British colony, with slavery and indentured labour. Today, the sector has been transformed into a wealth creator and a vehicle for economic and social prosperity.

From basket case to breadbasket: How Guyana’s agriculture sector transformed the country

Agriculture has been a part of Guyana's history since its days as a British colony, with slavery and indentured labour. Today, the sector has been transformed into a wealth creator and a vehicle for economic and social prosperity.

Sattaur Gafoor: pioneering patriot and icon of enterprise

Sattaur Gafoor is an entrepre-neur who has witnessed many changes in Guyana’s business landscape. Over the decades, he has led Gafsons Industries Ltd to become the largest private enter-prise company in Guyana and its key manufacturer and supplier of building materials. “We are one of the largest contributors to govern-ment revenues, with great poten-tial,” he says.G a fson s I ndu st r ie s Ltd wa s started by Gafoor’s father in 1953 and Sattaur joined six years later. Today, as executive chairman, Gafoor has ushered the company towards many milestones. The company now manufactures a range of products, including cor-rugated sheets, fencing, nails, PVC pipes and plastic bottles.Since 1992 Gafsons Industries Ltd has also led the way in property development, helping to meet the demand for good quality housing in the country. Gafoor says the company’s success and resilience is down to many factors, including “being able to motivate a large skilled staff

(today, almost one thousand em-ployees), to produce merchandise of excellent quality and offer su-perior service to customers.”He adds that being able to “read the local and world trends of supply and demand” is crucial. Gafoor is also grateful for the government’s support: “The suc-cessive presidents of Guyana have all recognised the need for an in-dustrial base in Guyana.”But an unexpected and frustrat-ing twist in Guyana’s political landscape in the 1970s presented Gafoor with a unique opportunity to expand his business empire across the Caribbean. When the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan was elected to power in 1957, he removed li-censing requirements for imports and opened up the world to Guy-ana. But by 1971, under Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, a law was implemented preventing any imports that weren’t done directly by the government. “Centralised control resulted in the mass emi-gration of skilled people, who are vital for the development of any country,” as Gafoor recalls.

In tune with his entrepreneurial spirit, he decided to leave Guyana in 1980 to pursue new ventures. “I left everything behind and started businesses in Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and finally Jamaica.” “Perhaps, one of my achievements is to be the head of a group of companies known throughout Guyana and the Caribbean, re-spected and trusted for its busi-ness ethics and contributions to society,” he adds. In 1992, new President Cheddi Jagan invited Gafoor to return home to Guyana to continue mak-ing key business contributions. “It was very eventful and very challenging because I had to start from scratch all over again.” As Gafoor rebuilt his business, he was mindful of the need to nur-ture his own staff professionally and personally. “We help our employees to develop themselves both educationally and financially,” he points out. To achieve this, he established a small business development trust bank to finance small businesses.

He also set up a Toastmasters Club for his employees, pioneering the programme in Guyana. “It is a way of improving the communica-tion skills and self-confidence and has resulted in better customer relations.” And as for the future of the coun-try, Gafoor’s outlook is positive. “Guyana has all the ingredients to make potential investors take a second look. We have natural resources, strong governance and a strong opposition. In the last seven years our growth rate aver-aged over 4.5 percent.”

Sattaur Gafoor leads Guyana's most successful manufacturing and building company. As Gafsons Industries Ltd marks 60 years in business, Gafoor says his commitment to quality products and service while empowering his workforce is the secret to his success.

Gafsons at a glance

Corporate profile

Products T h e co mp a n y h a s p i o -neered the manufacture o f b u i l d i n g m a t e r i a l s including sheet met al , fencing, nails and plastic containers. It is also the only company in Guyana to manufacture water tanks. In collaboration with the government it develops housing, including Cum-mings Lodge which com-prises 28 town houses.

Workforce From just a handful of em-ployees in the 1950s, Gaf-sons now has a workforce of more than 1 ,0 0 0. In 2012, the company saw its best year, recording a 25 percent increase in sales over the previous year ’s f igure. Gafoor attributes this to a dedicated, moti-vated and well-informed staff.

Corporate responsibility Gafsons provides a fund to help employees with medi-cal and school fees and provides loans to buy land and build their own homes. Gafoor's staff can also take part in the Toastmasters Club which supports staff in their leadership and communication skills.

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New Thriving 中餐馆乔治敦 乔治敦South Cummingsburg Main Street 32号 | 电话：+592-225-0159

Writer: Oliver MossWriter: Oliver Moss

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“Over the years, Pegasus has had a rich history; the Queen stayed here and all the heads of state in the region often make a special request to come.”

Robert Badal, CEO of the Pegasus Hotel

Since its establishment in 1969 the Pegasus has become George-town’s hotel of choice for busi-nessmen, visiting dignitaries and even royalty. The city’s f ive-star hotel, known for its excellent food, has recently undergone a renova-

tion with a roof bar and a banquet hall being added to the hotel’s of-ferings. Robert Badal, the luxury hotel’s CEO, is the first Guyanese to hold the posit ion since the hotel’s establishment in the early days of Guyana’s independence.

Shell BeachG u y ana’s 1 40 k m - l o ng Shell Beach on the Atlantic coast in the country’s far north-west has become a major draw for tourists and conservationists alike. The beach is a major nesting site for four of the eight sea turtle species, particu-larly the Leatherback.

FishingGuyana means ‘ land of many waters’ in the local Amerindian language and its vast rivers are putting it on the map for both com-mercial and sports fishing. While shrimp fishing is a major industry, its rivers hold around 1 ,800 f ish species including piranha and the mystical arapaima.

GeorgetownGuyana’s capital is situ-ated at the mouth of the Demerara River and is home to a third of the countr y’s population. Nicknamed the ‘Garden City of the Caribbean’, it serves as the seat of CARICOM. Georgetown also boasts two famous l andmar k s: t he St a -broek Market, famous for i ts iron st r ucture and clock tower, was built in 1881 and serves as the city’s commer-cial and transportation hub, while St. George’s Cathedral is one of the largest wooden struc-tures in the world.

Kaieteur Falls are spectacularly located deep in the jungle of central Guyana and are one of the country’s major tourist attractions. At 226 metres, the falls are four times the height of Niagara Falls and twice the height of Africa’s Victoria Falls. The falls are estimat-ed to be the 19th largest in the world by volume.

Rainforest, flora and faunaWith over 80 percent of the country covered by rainforest, Guyana is known as one of the world’s top countries for eco-tourism. The jungles, rivers and coast of Guyana contain one of the highest levels of bio-diversity found anywhere in the world and include (from left to right) the Jaguar, pristine rainforest, the Hoatzin and the Lotus Flower. With over 1,600 species of birds it is a popular destination for birdwatchers.

Pegasus Hotel

Guyana is one of the last great frontier tour-ism opportunities on the planet. With most of the country covered by pristine rainforest con-taining some of the high-est bio-diversity on the planet, it is fast becom-ing a top eco-tourism destination and a favour-ite among nature-lovers and intrepid travellers, who flock to see Kaiet-eur Falls, Georgetown’s Victorian architecture and Shell Beach.

Guyana is one of the last great frontier tour-ism opportunities on the planet. With most of the country covered by pristine rainforest con-taining some of the high-est bio-diversity on the planet, it is fast becom-ing a top eco-tourism destination and a favour-ite among nature-lovers and intrepid travellers, who flock to see Kaiet-eur Falls, Georgetown’s Victorian architecture and Shell Beach.

Open for discoveryOpen for discovery

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ATLANTIC HOTEL INC.

全国工商投资有限公司

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