Last evening, Canadian High Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee announced that her country will be launching a chamber of commerce in Guyana later this year, in response to the growing presence of Canadian companies.
The envoy made the announcement at a ‘Canada Day’ event hosted at the Marriott Hotel.
Chatterjee said that Canada is Guyana’s largest trading partner but noted, “Our Canadian sponsors for tonight’s reception are from all sectors.”
Chatterjee pointed out that Scotiabank has been in Guyana for over 50 years. She noted too that Canadian Bank Note, a printing company that has been here since 1997 and owns the Guyana Lottery Company Limited, “produces your passports, runs your lotteries, prints your money, and even your election ballots.”
The High Commissioner then put the spotlight on Kaizen Environmental Services from Calgary, noting that it is an environmental testing and laboratory company. Chatterjee also highlighted Guycan, another Canadian sponsor of last night’s event.
She said that Canadians are increasingly investing in Guyana’s oil and gas sector and three companies, headquartered in Toronto, will be drilling offshore — CGX, JHI, and Eco Atlantic.
“In addition, we have 12 partnerships between Canadian and Guyanese companies in the oil and gas sector. Three of these are among our sponsors tonight. Panthera is a partnership between Newfoundland’s Crosbie Group and Farfan & Mendes. NSB Omega partnered with Action Coach Guyana. Learncorp, specialising in technical oil and gas training, is currently training 24 people from Guyana in Nova Scotia to work offshore on the Liza destiny FPSO,” the High Commissioner shared.
Chatterjee further said that the Center for Business Development indicated that over 60 companies from across Canada have registered with them.
“You all know our sponsor, Guyana Goldfields, but we have 10 Canadian mining companies in various stages of exploration and production. Guyana Goldstrike, Sandspring and Reunion are 3 additional sponsors from the mining sector tonight.”
