President Bharrat Jagdeo addresses the dinner.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged the Private Sector to invest more and to recognize opportunities for development.

The President even issued a challenge to members of the sector to provide another airline carrier.

President Jagdeo was at the time addressing a gathering of the Private Sector Commission representatives at a gala dinner at the Pegasus Hotel on Friday night. The event was held to facilitate discussion on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) as well as various other issues.

A member of the gathering asked what the government is doing about the fact that there are only two international airlines operating out of Guyana which results in a great demand for more flights and high cost of tickets.

President Jagdeo’s response was for the private sector to see it as an opportunity for investment rather than turning to the government.

“If there is so much demand then there is a chance to make money. What is the private sector doing? Why turn to the government? You have a chance to make money…. We have to see opportunities to develop the sector not just ask what is the government doing,” the Head of State noted.

He also urged members of the private sector not to dissuade persons from investing in Guyana. He said that this is done because locals see the market as very small.

Addressing the LCDS, President Jagdeo said that the model is a simple one. According to him, it is what Guyana can earn by deploying the forest to alternative use.

“…its based on 10% of our forest being set aside for conservation….and we then said what if we were to deforest over a 25 year period at four percent per annum, what are we going to earn as a country for the sale of the timber and for using the land to grow into agriculture and other kinds of ventures….There is clearly a big incentive to convert.”

The Head of state also said that the LCDS is about development more than it is about environment.

“We’ve identified several low carbon investment opportunities in the strategy and those are the ones that are going to be pursued with greater vigor.”

He added that separately but linked, there is this global opportunity now caused by climate change to raise significant amounts of resources for funding Guyan’s development.

This, he said, is largely because of the role that deforestation plays in climate change.

“In Guyana’s case, we recognize we needed our own model because the world was paying too much attention to cutting deforestation rate rather than dealing with avoided deforestation.”

The President also pointed out that if Guyana is successful in Copenhagen, the market for Guyana’s product would not develop immediately and that is why a fund market kind of approach was developed whereby there will be transitional payments until the market kicks in.

“So what if we get this money now $580M or $100M…..We are going to use it to fix the sea defenses because we looked at an average loss per annum from flooding every year and for the past 10 years it’s about 10% of GDP in financial terms.”

According to him, the monies will also be used to capitalise investment in hydropower which is important to the private sector, to bring in more fibre optic cables, to build more roads and better infrastructure in the savannahs.

President Jagdeo stated that the resources for the next set of infrastructural development can come from the LCDS.

He noted that a lot can be done with the funds generated under the LCDS from the trading of forest carbon credits.