Gov’t wants Guyana to be operational zone for foreign investors

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali said Guyana’s local content legislation has created an environment which ensures economic viability for foreign investors, as government strives to ensure the country becomes an operational zone.

Dr. Ali was at the time responding to questions on Guyana’s local content during a conversation with the Wilson Centre in Washington DC.

The President said there is more value for the country if products are produced locally to support the oil and gas sector, rather than them being produced in a foreign land.

“What we have done is that we have created an environment in which those companies will see it viable to do the manufacturing in Guyana, to do the value added in Guyana, creating a whole new demand for engineers, machinist and so on,” the President stated.

Guyana’s local content legislation was made law in December, 2021 with the aim of ensuring Guyanese benefit from the oil and gas sector.

President Ali said a section of the legislation provides for capacity building of the country’s human resource.

He highlighted that government is working on the establishment of national training center to prepare Guyanese for the oil and gas and hospitality sectors.

“So, we provide the environment and the skills training that will support the next level of human resource to meet that requirement. There is growing local participation and more value added to what that participation will be in the future,” President Ali said.

During the conversation, President Ali also spoke of government’s drive to lower the cost of energy by 50 per cent, ensuring its reliability. The head of state also shed light on Guyana’s push for the creation of an energy mix involving solar, hydro, wind and natural gas.

“So, the end of all this, what you will see is a country that delivers energy competitively to support other investment in manufacturing, agro-processing, industrial development, input for the agricultural sector, like small fertiliser plants that will support the growth of agriculture,” he explained.

In February this year, Guysons K+B Industries Inc acquired 55 acres of land for oilfield manufacturing facilities which will be offering tubular goods, premium threading and accessory services as well as turn-key manufacturing solutions.

The US$35 million investment is projected to create 500 jobs.

The government of Guyana was invited by the United States government to commence discussions on a range of issues to further deepen bilateral relations. President Ali is leading the delegation from Guyana which includes Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd and Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud.