By Per Fredrik Pharo
IN 2009, Guyana and Norway entered into a partnership on issues related to the fight against climate change, protection of biodiversity and enhancement of sustainable development.
The partnership is a political agreement based on mutual trust, a shared vision for Guyana’s green development, and a balance between the commitments of our two countries. Norway stands by the spirit of this partnership.
In The Sunday Chronicle January 22, retired Rear Admiral Gary Best presents a number of misleading arguments about the Guyana Norway Agreement. Even though we do not think that his arguments present the view of the Government of Guyana, we feel compelled to respond, less serious misunderstandings are allowed to fester and erode the very basis of our partnership. The essential point is this: Norway remains committed to our partnership, as long as the commitment is matched by the Government of Guyana.
The cornerstone of our partnership is the original Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from 2009. The MoU establishes that results based funding from Norway is to be used to implement the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), the core of which was forest protection and a renewable energy transition with the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project at its heart. This is also reflected in our Joint Concept Notes (JCN) from 2012 and 2015.

Reflecting Guyana’s priorities, at the heart of our partnership is Norway’s commitment to support Guyana in a) keeping its deforestation rate at a very low level, b) improving its forest governance, and c) making the transition to near 100 percent clean and renewable energy sources by 2025. We are encouraged that these goals are also reflected in Guyana’s Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC), submitted to the UN Convention on Climate Change in 2015 by President Granger’s administration.

Rear Admiral Best ignores our MOU, and argues that the legal agreement between Norway and the World Bank regarding the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) constitutes the core of our two countries’ partnership. This is not the case – and as the Rear Admiral points out, that would be absurd, given that Guyana is not a formal party to the GRIF agreement.
Indeed, under the Guyana Norway partnership there are several legal agreements pertaining to the flow of funds, including the grant agreement with GRIF, an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on a holding account (more on that below), and smaller agreements with non-government organisations to help fast-track the partnership in specific areas. All of these are merely technical arrangements to allow finance to flow to Guyana’s green development, in line with and subordinated to our MOU.
The Granger administration has now embarked on work to take the LCDS one step further, by developing the new Green State Development Strategy. This is a process Norway embraces, both for its ambition and because we strongly support a democratically elected government’s right to continuously ponder the future development path of its country.
It is in this context relevant, however, that shortly after the change of government in May 2015, several public statements created doubts about whether the goals of the LCDS, especially regarding Guyana’s transition to near 100 percent clean and renewable energy sources within reasonable time, would be upheld by the Granger administration.
This development made a closer consultation process and a pause in the implementation of our partnership necessary. We strongly defend the right of a government to set the development path of its country. But if that development path were to deviate from that which was the basis for our partnership, then it is not the right of a government to retain the benefits of a partnership based on commitments it no longer intends to fulfil. For this reason, while waiting for the Granger administration to clarify its position, Norway has not been in a position to make any new financial transfers or commitments to the partnership. The crucial point, however, is that neither have we taken any steps to terminate the partnership. On the contrary, we are working actively with the Government of Guyana to identify an agreed path forward.
We are currently awaiting an announced plan for a concrete, realistic and cost effective transition to clean and renewable energy in line with Guyana’s INDC and the spirit of our partnership. Once this plan has been finalised and the new Green State Development Strategy, (including the mentioned energy transition plan) has been adopted by Guyana’s Parliament, Norway will be in the position to both transfer the 40 million USD to GRIF for results that Guyana achieved in 2013, and to put the 80 million USD currently placed in a holding account in IDB to good use to reach Guyana’s energy transition goal.
The Rear Admiral seems confused about the political processes of the disbursement of the latter: The 80 million USD were placed in a holding account at IDB to cover the Government of Guyana’s equity share in the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, at the written request of the then Finance Minister, Ashni Singh, to Norway’s then Minister of Climate and Environment, Tine Sundtoft, on November 17, 2014. This is a public letter, available to anyone requesting it. In a political partnership decisions of this character are taken and agreed upon by ministers, not – as Rear Admiral Best seems to believe – a technical group at fund management level.
From this it also follows that if and when the Granger administration delivers a concrete, realistic and cost effective plan for Guyana’s energy transition, it will have our unwavering support and get access to the funds now held by Norway and the IDB. This is not about any particular project, but about a realistic and politically anchored plan to deliver on the Government’s own stated ambition.
Whether the 80 million USD will remain with the IDB or is transferred to the GRIF is a practical question and relates to where the money can be put to best use in order to realise Guyana’s forthcoming concrete, realistic and cost effective plan for clean and renewable energy. It is not a matter of principle.
Crucially it will, within this framework, be up to Guyana to decide on which particular projects that merit further development, and to choose the international partners that are best equipped to support Guyana in realising these projects, in line with internationally recognised safeguards. Based on the open and constructive conversations between President Granger, Finance Minister Jordan and Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Vidar Helgesen, in Marrakech in November, I rest assured that this planning exercise is taking place and that the President has a compelling vision of the green development of Guyana, which includes the energy transition called for in Guyana’s INDC. (Per Fredrik Pharo, Special Envoy and Director of the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative)