Furniture manufactured by two local firms, Liana Cane and Precision Woodworking are to receive exposure to an “up market” Trade Show in New York in May to test the readiness of their products for the ‘high end” international market. Speaking recently with Stabroek Business, Chief of Party for the USAID Guyana Trade and Investment Support Project (GTIS) James Eaton said the finished products being sent to the New York Trade Show comprised a collection of high quality furniture made of rattan and wood and manufactured jointly by the two companies. Local products identified for the Trade Show also include several pieces of unique local craft. Quality development and marketing support for the furniture was provided by the USAID project which will also be supporting the trip to the Trade Show by representatives of the two manufacturers. The USAID project is providing US$7.4m over four years to provide cluster development and marketing assistance to local manufacturers, to develop the public-private sector consultative process, and to support economic growth through trade, investment and increased competitiveness. GTIS is currently providing support for twenty-one local businesses including entities in the furniture manufacturing, hotel, agricultural and industrial manufacturing sectors. Additionally, USAID/ GTIS is currently providing support for seventeen sectoral projects including the development of a livestock census for the Ministry of Agriculture, the development of an expanded pepper production initiative with the New Guyana Marketing Corporation, the development of a Customs Valuation Sys-tem for the Guyana Revenue Authority and the acquisition of Information Technology Equipment for the Guyana Tourism Authority. USAID/ GTIS is also supporting projects aimed at capacity building at GOINVEST and the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association, and the creation of a nutritional testing laboratory facility at the Food and Drug Department.

Eaton told Stabroek Business that notwithstanding the accessibility to regional markets resulting from the advent of the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) Guyana could still face non-tariff barriers if the competitiveness of its products was affected by quality deficiencies.

He said that one of the aims of USAID/GTIS was to provide funding for cluster development projects in order to enhance the performance of local exporters.

He said that USAID/GTIS was currently working with the Ministry of Agriculture to establish a poultry laboratory to test the quality of locally produced poultry. “The idea is to protect the industry against non-tariff barriers arising out of qualit. Eaton said that USAID/GTIS was working primarily through not exclusively with four sectors - forestry, fisheries, tourism and agro-processing. Eaton disclosed that in the agri-business sector USAID/ GTIS was was working with the Guyana Agri-Business Association (GABA) to respond to a major international market for pepper identified by the New GMC. The project which involves the cultivation, harvesting, transporting and marketing of pepper will be facilitated through inputs by GABA, New GMC and Laparkan.

Eaton disclosed that USAID/GTIS had been instrumental in helping Guyana to upgrade fishing nets on local trawlers to international standards after a visiting United States inspection team had raised questions about the ineffectiveness of the Turtle Exclusion Devices (TED’s) fitted to fishing nets. He said that following USAID/GTIS’ intervention a consultant was brought to Guyana to address the problem and that Guyana’s trawler fleet was given a clean bill of health in March 2005.

Eaton told Stabroek Business that training was one of the major preoccupations of USAID/GTIS. According to the Chief of Party the agency will shortly be launching a training programe for 1400 persons in the hospitality sector in preparation for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

The training programme will embrace hospitality workers, tour guides and immigration and customs officials, among others and will commence in March this year.

Since the launch of the USAID/GTIS programme in 2004 the agency has already completed fifteen projects including a Kiln Drying Study with the Guyana Forestry Commission, an assessment of sustainability in the fisheries sector, and a revised Investment Guide for GOINVEST. USAID/GTIS has also provided information technology support and website development for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 18th, 2006 at 12:29 am and is filed under Events, Furniture. Tags: agro-processing, Caribbean, equipment, food, Food and Drug Department, Furniture, GOINVEST, Guyana, Guyana Agri-Business Association, Guyana Forestry Commission, Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association, Guyana Revenue Authority, Guyana Tourism Authority, Information Technology, information technology support, Investment Support Project, James Eaton, Liana Cane, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, New Guyana Marketing Corporation, New York, Party for the USAID Guyana Trade, Precision Woodworking, products, Project, United States, United States Agency for International Development, USAID Guyana Trade, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.