Georgetown: As plans continue apace for the staging of the first annual Guyana Festival Caricom Bottling Company Inc. showed its tangible support for the event by handed over a multimillion dollar sponsorship cheque to Minister Irfaan Ali in the boardroom of the Tourism Ministry on Monday May 19. This represents the exclusive sponsorship of the planned Cricket match that forms part of the events offerings. That match according to the Minister features Guyana’s past and present greats in the cricketing fraternity.
Company’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Mondale Smith handed over the cheque valued at $3m to Minister of Tourism (ag), Irfaan Ali at the Ministry’s Boardroom, South Road, in support of the event which he said is depicting tangible support for any event that celebrates and highlights Guyana.
“We at Caricom Bottling Company believe that we should always prove that we are indeed Guyanese focused on National Development and camaraderie,” Smith said. He also highlighted that the company has been in existence for just about three years and commenced their operations with the production of West Indies Spring Water that can be found almost everywhere in Guyana. “Our brand of water is being sold at the same price as our competitors but in addition to offering more, our brand of water is not just clear but hygienically prepared removing all possibility of contamination. We believe that the nation’s health is its wealth and so we ensure that we produce healthy product for human consumption while we create employment for several scores of single parent mothers at the same time. The water can be found in 660 ml as opposed to the 500ml that is sold by other companies as well as 330ml bottles. Caricom Bottling Company is also the producers of West Indies Spring Water, Cran-water, Vodka-cooler and LLB with plans for the launch of other beverage in the not too distant future for the domestic as well as the export market .
Minister Ali in receiving the cheque expressed his gratitude to the company for its support, and opined that this event will not only be the most successful in Guyana for 2014, but will be the most talked about in the Caribbean. He commended the company for being among the first to support the event and also for creating employment for Guyanese.
He said that the Ministry has commenced advertising the event internationally and also highlighted that it has been working with several airlines to create a package for the event.
The minister also reiterated that there is a festival passports that will be filled with coupons from sponsors of the event at a cost of $3000. This pass will allow the holders entry into all the activities and also offers discount coupons for shopping at the various entities sponsoring the event. In addition to this, the pass also contains an entry to a raffle with a first prize of a new car.
In preparation for the event, festival shops have been launched at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) to allow individuals to pick up souvenirs.
The Ministry also recently received $2M sponsorship from Courts Guyana, for this undertaking.
The inaugural Guyana Festival will see the country’s traditional music, dance, food, art and craft being exhibited at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence on August 8 to 10.
The Minister assures that the three-day event will be marketed in North America and the Caribbean with an aim to create awareness to Guyana’s diverse cultural heritage, and generally the nature of its tourism product locally, regionally and internationally.
The event is family-oriented and will take the format of an exhibition during opening hours depicting art and craft, culinary delights, celebrity and demonstration tents, and concerts in the evenings. It will also offer a children’s playground.
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