As local business owners complain about the proliferation of Chinese businesses in Guyana and squeezing some of them out of the market, Presidential Candidate for the APNU, Aubrey Norton, believes it is an issue that cannot be ignored.

While noting the close ties that Guyana has shared with China over the years, Mr. Norton said a Government under his leadership would engage the Chinese authorities and he would also seek to remove any advantage that Chinese businesses may have over Guyanese businesses.

“I believe we can engage the Chinese authorities to make it very, very clear that they have to operate within the confines of the law. They have to pay their taxes, etc. We will seek to remove any, what should I call it, any advantage they will have over Guyanese. We also believe that we need to, in some regard, protect small businesses and we will take the action to protect small businesses. We do not believe that it is in Guyana’s interest to allow a complete domination of Chinese businesses”, he stated.

The issue has been a major one in the past few years, as scores of Chinese businesses have opened large operations in Guyana, in almost every region. Norton said the current situation may be as a result of poor Government policies that have to be addressed.

“We believe some of what is happening is as a result of poor Government policies. It is the poor policies of the PPP government that caused a lot of Guyanese to run out of business and to rent their places to Chinese. We will rectify that, and we believe in the final analysis. We will strike a balance where we don’t have to get rid of the Chinese, but the Guyanese here have first preference and a right to be involved in business and they should not be disadvantaged by foreigners”, he said.

Noting that Guyana is part of a global business community and that will result in nationals of many other countries moving to Guyana and opening up businesses, he said there must be an approach that balances the system to allow local companies not to be shut out.

“While we believe Guyana is for Guyanese, we are well aware that we live in an interconnected, inter-dependent world and that China plays a role in this world. We know that they are a significant actor. We will be responsive to their concerns in the international arena, but we will pursue diligently this approach which says that the people of Guyana must benefit and benefit first”, Norton stated.

Questioned about how exactly he would fix the system to be fairer to Guyanese businesses, the APNU Presidential Candidate told reporters that the entire system will have to be addressed, including the way we do business.

“First of all, in terms of investment, we intend to improve the public procurement system. And we believe once the public procurement system is working in a proper way, then you might not have the preponderance you’re seeing here. This government has the tendency or the proclivity to do things to suit themselves. Our intention is to do things to suit the people of Guyana. And once a functioning Procurement Commission is in place, then it follows kind of automatically that there will be a much better distribution of the contracts, et cetera, in the society”

He said citizens must also be encouraged to support Guyanese owned businesses more, while still supporting the Chinese and other businesses.

Norton said too many small and medium sized businesses were left at a disadvantage over the past few years, forcing some of them out of business.  That problem, he noted, he would work to correct.

Related posts:

Government plans closer monitoring of purchase of goods by Chinese businesses VP Jagdeo says it would be discriminatory to place restrictions on Chinese businesses Chinese Ambassador meets Top Cop on security and safety of Chinese citizens and business owners in Guyana Herstelling family arrested over multi-billion money laundering scheme with Chinese businesses