Oil and Gas, Public Infrastructure sectors attract Brazilian investors
─ State Minister receives courtesy call
─ Importance of developing physical infrastructure highlighted
DPI Guyana, Thursday, July 12, 2018
A team of Brazilian investors today met with Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and expressed interest in long-term investments in the Oil and Gas, Public Infrastructure and Business Sectors.
During the meeting, Minister Harmon committed to further discussions with the team of investors and expressed Government’s commitment to collaborating particularly in the Public Infrastructure sector, as part of its preparatory efforts for the emerging Oil and Gas Sector.
“All the structures are being put in place right now, before the Cabinet and it will go to the National Assembly very shortly is a Bill to deal with our Sovereign Wealth Fund into which the revenues of Oil and Gas will be placed into that Fund and then it will be dealt with in a national way.”
Minister Harmon said the issues related to the sector are being addressed closely.
The team, which comprised Alexandre Saverin, Yucatan Reis, Luis Panelli, John Forman and Jose Mario de Castilho, was updated on recent developments in the sector, including the significant amounts of oil discovered offshore Guyana in the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil’s operations and President David Granger’s decision to create the Department of Energy.
According to Minister Harmon, Guyana has one opportunity to get things right in the Oil and Gas Sector, therefore government is putting all the necessary measures in place to achieve positive results.
He committed to arranging a special meeting with the team along with Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson to discuss possible projects.
Minister Harmon also took the opportunity to update the investors on Guyana’s Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) which is close to finalisation and its focus on cleaner and sustainable energy use, Green Tourism, development of the agriculture sector and maintenance of the Protected Areas.
The recent breakthrough in the Norway Agreement, which unlocked billions of dollars and government’s plan of reducing Guyana’s use of fossil fuels by 50 percent over a three-year period, were also discussed.
The State Minister reiterated that, “throughout all of that, our physical infrastructure is key, because we cannot develop our country unless our physical infrastructure is in order, so what that means is that our ports have to be modernised, our road network that links the Coast to the Hinterland would have to be modernised.”
Investor, Alexandre Saverin said “we are very excited to be here and would love to proceed with something in the Oil, the Infrastructure… so we can bring some Brazilian expertise and entrepreneurship.”
By: Stacy Carmichael
Images: Jules Gibson