Business Summit to brainstorm solutions to national problems

By Devina Samaroo

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) will be hosting a landmark business summit where key stakeholders will gather to discuss challenges affecting the business community, with the aim of finding solutions and ways to improve current business practices.

The Business Summit, being held under the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for Business Growth and Expansion”, will be hosted at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston on October 11-12 and will see participation from government, the opposition parties, industry players and civil society.

President David Granger and the Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo were invited to deliver addresses during the two-day event.  PSC Member Deodat Indar explained during a news conference Tuesday that presentations will be made on key sectors of the economy followed by a series of panel discussions on cross-cutting issues which affect those sectors.

“This summit is not just to discuss only the areas where we have challenges but also the areas where we can have expansion and growth, where there are new areas which businesses can develop and create jobs … so it’s not just about the problems facing the country alone but areas where we are doing well and how we can get better at it,” he explained.

He noted that the objective is to encourage maximum participation from the stakeholder groups and organizations to ensure a comprehensive action plan can be created. Indar assured that at the end of the summit, concrete actions will be taken to ensure the event will not be one of just handshakes and speeches.

Indar assured that at the end of the summit, concrete actions will be taken to ensure the event will not be one of just handshakes and speeches.

“There is a post-summit mechanism to deal with the suggestions that are coming out of the summit. Obviously, each suggestion has to be evaluated before implemented,” he explained, noting that there is a close relationship between the Ministry of Business and the private sector.

Though the event will not be opened to the public, persons are invited to participate by following the discussion live on Facebook on the PSC’s page.