Guyana, US hold inaugural “Growth in the Americas” working group virtual meeting

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo led a Guyanese delegation at the first Growth in the Americas Working Group virtual meeting with a high-level US delegation on Friday to discuss critical needs of the country.

In a statement from the US Embassy, Georgetown, the VP Jagdeo and the Guyanese team raised the needs of the nation in the fields of finance and procurement, energy and power generation, physical infrastructure, information technology and housing.

The statement outlined the support that the US Government has provided to the Guyanese people.

It reads in part, “[the] U.S. representatives described the technical assistance the U.S. government was able to provide in these areas as well as Sovereign Wealth and Public Finance Management to ensure that Guyana’s regulations and business climate stimulate domestic and foreign investment.”

Friday’s diplomatic engagement stems from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed between Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hon. Hugh Todd and U.S. Secretary of State, His Excellency Michael Pompeo back in September.

That MOU seeks to foster bilateral collaboration in the finance, energy and infrastructure sectors. It also aims to identify ways to catalyse private capital for programmatic and project-specific investment opportunities.

Further the US Embassy stated that the MOU also intends to address technical, regulatory, structural, systematic, economic and financial stumbling blocks in which solutions may be proposed to attract investment to develop Guyana.

Representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Public Works; Natural Resources; Housing and Water; and Tourism, Industry and Commerce, as well as representatives from the Guyana Revenue Authority, Guyana Power and Light, and the Telecommunications Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister, attended the meeting.

On the U.S. end, National Security Council Senior Director Josh Hodges and Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Markets Mitchell Silk headed that delegation.

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