A MINISTERIAL sub-committee has been established to develop a diaspora policy, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has announced.
Harmon told reporters on Friday that consultations have been done with stakeholders on a Diaspora Engagement Strategy; the stakeholders include the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).

The move by Cabinet to set up a ministerial sub-committee comprising the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, State, Finance, Business and Citizenship, follows concerns raised by members of the diaspora of being isolated by the 18-month-old administration.
“The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs updated Cabinet on the formulation of a Diaspora Engagement Strategy and other works being carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on diaspora engagement. It will be recalled that this is an area which, when we came into office, the Government decided that they were going to put additional efforts into ensuring that the ease of doing business in Guyana with our Guyanese in the Diaspora was made much easier.”

Harmon said over the past few months, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs engaged with several international agencies on studying the issue to see how best a diaspora engagement policy could be drafted.
He said preliminary work has been completed and noted that the ministerial sub-committee will examine the proposals and put to Cabinet its final decision on the matter.
“We believe that it is important enough to ensure that our Guyanese in the diaspora… that they have a specific point of reference on all of these issues. At present, the point of reference is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through our consulates, high commissions and embassies abroad.”

Harmon said oftentimes, Guyanese in the diaspora return here and try to get services provided to them and it is the hope of his administration that the strategy will allow them to remain where they are and access the requisite information and get decisions from Government entities and agencies by just the click of a button on a computer.
“That is the direction in which we are moving,” he stated.
He said Cabinet has agreed that a sub -committee comprising the ministers be appointed to examine proposals and advise on a final decision.

Assurances that Government is sticking to one of its campaign promises to engage the diaspora in a structured manner has followed public concerns by a group of pro-Government Guyanese in New York, who have claimed they are being treated as outcasts, although they had campaigned for and provided financial support to APNU+AFC.
They have also flayed the Government for failing to set up a Diaspora Commission or selecting an overseas-based Guyanese to be a parliamentarian.
Harmon said Government is determined to ensure overseas-based Guyanese enjoy the ease of doing business in their homeland.

“We believe that it is important enough to ensure that our Guyanese in the diaspora, that they have a specific point of reference on all of these issues,” he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge has assured overseas-based Guyanese that they are not being ignored, but his ministry is not an employment bureau.
President David Granger has called on overseas-based Guyanese to stop writing petitions and instead come back and invest in village economies.
He had said he loves the diaspora and credited them with supporting him and his coalition election campaign.