MINISTER within the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes on Monday joined 15 of her counterparts in Toronto, Canada for the inaugural International Mines Ministers’ Summit (IMMS). Convened at the Toronto Convention Centre, the summit was ogranised by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). It coincided with the PDAC annual conference, which is touted as the world’s biggest gathering of mining professionals.
During the summit, the Ministers explored how mining can positively contribute to the sustainable development of communities and countries throughout the world. Minister Broomes said the summit will be beneficial to Guyana in the long term as a result of the network that was created, which can assist in the country’s drive to improve its own mining sector and create best practices.
Addressing the closed door summit was world renowned political scientist, political economist and author, Dr. Francis Fukuyama of the United Sates, who focused on governance of the mining extractive sector. He spoke of the volatility of the mining sector which poses various challenges for Governments around the world.
Governments, he said, need to “put away when times are good for when times are bad.” He warned of the other challenges which create inequalities, threat to communities and environmental risks. Further, Dr. Fukuyama also zeroed in on the transparency aspect of the sector, pointing out that mining occurs mostly in the remote areas of countries which makes it difficult for governments to effectively manage its operation. As a result the industry is constantly marred by poor governance and “outright corruption.”
The summit also had interactive sessions in the form of a panel discussion which generated contributions from the Government Ministers and the other players at the summit. “The summit for me was a success for Guyana and the Government. More emphasis needs to be placed on improving our mining sector and we must focus on making the lives of especially small miners better,” Minister Broomes said.
She pointed out that the summit was held on the eve of International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th, and that women make up a significant portion of the workforce in the mining sector, as well as the persons who own mining operations and other businesses.
“The summit did, to a lesser extent, address women in the mining sector and as a professional miner and a woman now a Government Minister, I can assure that women in the mining sector will be an area of this Government’s focus,” the minister said.