Guyanese team ends successful visit to World Trade Centers Association

The first World Trade Center to be established in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be set up in Guyana with the facility slated to open in February 2023.

The Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) is the local company bringing the centre to Guyana, having secured a licence to do so earlier this year. A team from the company, headed by Executive Chairman Komal Samaroo, ended a weeklong visit to New York, focusing primarily on talks with the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) on developments with the World Trade Center in Georgetown, Guyana.

The DDL team held wide ranging discussions with WTCA General Counsel James Perry, and his deputy, Clark Lackert, at the WTCA head office in New York City on issues related to trademarks, geographic indication, market access and branding. They also discussed global trade and investment policy and strategies for advancing the interests of small enterprises to ensure their sustainability.

Progress being made on Guyanese location

Samaroo used the occasion to update the WTCA top officials on progress being made with retrofitting of the building on High Street, Kingston, which will serve as the World Trade Center, and plans for the branding and utilisation of the seven-floor facility. Much of the discussion focused on the programmes which the World Trade Center in Guyana will initiate and its collaboration with the more than 300 centres in more than 100 countries to promote prosperity through trade.

Arrangements are also currently being put in place with a number of relevant agencies and organisations internationally whose work focusess on promoting trade among small and medium size enterprises. The WTCA officials presented a number of gifts to the visiting delegation, including the WTCA flag and commemorative coin.

The meeting followed a conducted tour of the Freedom Towers which now houses the World Trade Center in New York.

According to Samaroo, “the visit and discussions with the WTCA officials have given us a better idea of how we can best leverage the work of WTC Georgetown not only to expand the market for DDL’s products but to promote trade and help facilitate market access for products from Guyana particularly through training and information sharing among small and medium size enterprises”.

He is convinced about the tremendous benefit that a World Trade Center in Guyana will offer the business community through its network of relationships with centres around the world. The Guyanese delegation is looking at designating one floor of the facility as a tourist attraction, which will serve as a pleasant educational experience for both Guyanese and overseas visitors.

During the visit to New York, the DDL team held a number of media engagements, paid courtesy calls at the Guyana Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Guyana Consulate.