CARANA Corporation has signed a $7.4 million contract with USAID to continue managing the Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) project, following four successful years of bringing promising yet undeveloped industries there to the brink of transformation.

Through CARANA’s market-led approach, GTIS attracted nearly $40 million in private investment and additional project funding (leveraging over five dollars for every USAID dollar spent) while creating or enhancing over 4,000 jobs. GTIS II will build on these accomplishments, partnering with foreign investors, strategic buyers, and “anchor firms” in Guyana to expand production, improve technology, and meet export standards in four key industries: forestry, aquaculture, eco-tourism and agriculture. GTIS II will also continue efforts alongside Guyana’s president to build the country’s reputation for environmental responsibility.

One of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, Guyana is heavily dependent on traditional exports of raw products: sugar, gold, bauxite, timber, and rice. To diversify and expand exports, GTIS worked with international firms to define market demand for Guyanese products and the necessary upgrading. Anchor firms then invested in infrastructure and improved services to meet demand. This approach has become the preeminent development model for Guyana.

Through GTIS II, CARANA will:

• Establish a Legality Verification System (LVS) to manage sustainable logging of the country’s forests while promoting the use of Lesser Known Species (LKS) and increasing exports of value-added wood products.
• Develop an integrated aquaculture and agriculture farm and create an inland fisheries policy for environmental best practices in tilapia cultivation.
• Build on the momentum for eco-tourism through more media campaigns and tours for travel journalists and tour agencies, and expand into new niches such as sport fishing and cultural tourism.
• Oversee further investment and training at two new state-of-the-art model farms to help Guyanese farmers improve farm operations and obtain GlobalGAP certification for exports to Europe and North America.  

Published May 2009

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