The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) has announced the appointment of Naresh Raghubeer as a Special Advisor for the year 2009-2010 for Advocacy and Trade.
A release from the ICCC states that Naresh brings a wealth of expertise in policy development, advocacy, organizational development, media, communications and trade that will benefit the organization.
Guyanese-born Naresh is presently Director of Allenwood Consulting Group, a business consulting firm based in Ottawa. Prior to joining Allenwood Consulting Group, he was National Policy Director for the Canada India Foundation where he was responsible for policy development and implementation. He played an active role in working to end Canada’s 34-year policy of frozen bilateral relations with India on nuclear cooperation and has been working to change Canada’s policy regarding Gujarat.
Naresh has also worked as Executive Director with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD), a national, non-partisan, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, human rights non-governmental organization focused on foreign policy, national security and public safety, and the promotion of democracy at home and abroad. CCD is an intervenor at the Air India Commission of Inquiry into the bombing of Air India Flight 182, and the recently concluded Iacobucci Commission of Inquiry.
Naresh also has extensive experience at the provincial, federal and international levels of government and has developed an in depth knowledge and understanding of government.
He has participated in numerous international conferences and other multilateral fora in the United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, the Caribbean, the United States, India, and was a special delegate to the United Nations Conference on Youth in Portugal in 2004.
Naresh has appeared as an analyst and commentator on several national radio and television programs in Canada including CTV, CBC, Global Television, TVO, OMNI, CHCH TV, CTS, CBC Radio's Cross Country Check-up with Rex Murphy, and in various newspapers including the Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Globe and Mail and the Jerusalem Post.
He has a wealth of expertise in policy development, advocacy, organizational development, media, communications and crisis management.
The ICCC is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, composed of about 1,000 business professionals based in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. It hosts between 15-20 speaker-driven networking events a year and offers its members tangible benefits such as free business seminars, four free newsletters, a year-end magazine and membership directory.
Founded in 1977 one of ICCC's main objectives is to promote and facilitate trade and commerce between Canada, India and other countries around the world, by creating relationships and links with global business organizations.

By William Doyle-Marshall
An alliance between Guyana, Jamaica, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago could result in mainland states of the region becoming the breadbasket of the Caribbean. Jamaica’s Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Kenneth Baugh made this disclosure recently during a Town Hall meeting in Toronto with Jamaican nationals and citizens of the Caribbean Diaspora.
The Deputy Prime Minister met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and four of his ministers during a whirlwind visit to Ottawa. Accompanying him on the visit were High Commissioner Evadne Coy, Ambassador Paul Harker, director for Bilateral Relations Department and Consul General Anne Marie Bonner.
Dr. Baugh said Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana have indicated quite clearly that there needs to be a plan to utilize Guyana’s land and resources. The venture is based on what Dr. Baugh called the “Jagdeo initiative” to utilize Guyana’s immense water resources, from the country’s huge rivers. Through this effort Dr. Baugh said large farms would be put in place that can feed the Caribbean. Guyana, Surinam and Belize could become the breadbasket of the Caribbean. Jamaica agrees to be a part of that process.
“We do have lands as well and agriculture is a great factor in our country. It is something that has potential but has not yet happened,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda went to Guyana and he was flown over the rice fields. He returned home very, very impressed that the natural resources there are enormous and they need to be activated and put to work to feed the Caribbean, Dr. Baugh stressed.
Guyana has allocated G$1.1B to boost expansion and development of non-traditional agriculture. The Republic’s ‘Grow more Food campaign’ launched in early 2008 has been described as a success. It is expected to deliver a minimum growth of 2% for 2009, despite the disruptions caused by floods early in the year said, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud in the National Assembly during his recent contribution in the budget debate.
Within the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy) Dr. Baugh reported that Jamaica purchases the commodities available from its neighbours - Guyana and Surinam. Those items are given preference and there is a common external tariff that sort of penalizes things from outside. “In some ways it is a preference for the Caribbean region and that is accommodated under WTO (World Trade Organization).
This sort of initiative was not possible in the past due to the existence of a tariff escalation tax, which penalised developing countries for processing their raw material for export. That tax on value added existed across Europe and Asia too but it has since been removed
“If you exported your raw materials there was hardly any tax on it. But if you export a finished product it is taxed and that created a difference in countries like ours,” the Deputy Prime Minister said. He was convinced that the time has come now with the Free Trade Arrangements with Europe, the Caribbean Basin Initiative and Caribcan (with Canada), Caribbean nations have to take initiatives to see to what extent they can process their products for export.
Energy costs also contributed towards making Caribbean products not competitive. Jamaica doesn’t have the energy to produce aluminium but President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has made an offer to Prime Minister Golding that could result in an agreement where Venezuela would provide the energy so Jamaica could process aluminium right at home.
Dr. Baugh captured the existing situation that impacts on Jamaica and other Caricom states including Guyana: “We export raw sugar and we buy back granulated sugar. We export bauxite and alumina and we buy back aluminium products even the aluminium foil in your kitchen. Alumina has about a thousand different products that don’t require the energy.”
So the seed for adding value to Caricom raw material has been planted and Caricom goods have to be competitive. From Dr. Baugh’s perspective in most instances this can become a reality. Consideration also has to be given to Jamaica and other Caricom states would have niche markets.
“Jamaica has products that are just the best like our cocoa, our coffee and many other things, they are just the best, so therefore they have a very high price. They will always sell once we market it,” he contended.
In making this transformation the Deputy Prime Minister identified nationals residing in the Diaspora as having a very important part to play with their skills and knowledge, technologies, management and financial resources.