President commits to building a new Guyana “ahead of its time”

His Excellency Dr Mohammed Irfaan Ali has said that he is committed to building a new Guyana that is “ahead of its time”, thereby creating an enabling platform for Guyanese to prosper and live more comfortably. 

The president was speaking, on Friday evening at the Maple Leaf Ball, hosted by the Canada and Guyana Chamber of Commerce at the Marriott.

“Guyana 2030 and beyond will be very different from what we are accustomed to. It will be a country that will lead the world on climate security. It’s a country that will be around every single leadership table on energy security. It’s a country which will be in the leadership position in this region on food security,” he stated.

The president stated that work over the next seven years will ensure that by 2030 and beyond, Guyana’s economy will be sustainable, resilient, competitive, versatile and well-diversified.

He noted that the economy will not be driven by the oil and gas sector but will be supported by it and every other sector will be built using that revenue stream.

“It is a country that will offer to the world the best eco-tourism product, none will be able to compete with us. We are going to put the infrastructure in place…to train our people…to invest in their education…to invest in facilities…to invest in services… [and] we are going to change our attitude, our culture and our own behaviour. There is absolutely no other option available to us. We are done talking. We are going to do it and we are going to position our tourism product second to none,” the Guyanese president stated.

He noted that the region has to reposition itself as the mecca of sports and entertainment if it is to service in the vastly changing world.

Meanwhile, President Ali also noted the importance of taking advantage of networking opportunities through bodies like the Canada-Guyana Chamber of Commerce.

He also spoke about the importance of digitization and what it means for business transactions, adding that has to drive this change.

“What we are doing in the next seven years is building ahead of our time. We are going to build Guyana ahead of our time. We are not going to play second team anymore. We are going to apply the best technology now and work backwards to bring the population up to that technology. We can’t speak about a viable and competitive future if we don’t speak about digitization, digitization of government services and digitization in the private sector,” he said

President Ali stated that the intention is to build a country known for innovation not only in the production of food but applying the best technology and increasing the number of women, youths and people living with disabilities who own farms and production facilities.

He noted that the services that will be built will be used to support a population of close to three million.