AS part of efforts to bolster engagement with the diaspora, a conference for a number of entrepreneurs from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States will be held here from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 May, during which they will explore prospects for developing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to assist in creating employment opportunities for Guyanese.
This event, called ‘Effective and Sustainable Diaspora Engagement for Development in the Caribbean (ESDEDC) “Go See Visit 2017”, is part of a regional project being collaboratively undertaken on the national front by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release.
Furthermore, this activity is related to the engagement strategy now being developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Citizenship and the Ministry of Business and Tourism, to harness resources and facilitate the transfer of skills and knowledge, thus increasing diaspora involvement in Guyana’s development. According to the ministry, the visiting Guyanese entrepreneurs will attend workshops, interact with local stakeholders and agencies, and conduct site visits to areas relevant to their business interests, which range from software development to maternal and child health-care services.
The Diaspora Unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created by the Government of Guyana to strengthen relations with overseas-based Guyanese, while encouraging trade, investment and other contributions. The Government of Guyana and the IOM have also joined forces to establish Guyana’s Diaspora (GUYD) Project to collect data on skills and resources to help guide a more effective engagement policy. Currently, the Guyana Diaspora Engagement Strategy and Action Plan, which will provide the Government with a more impactful mechanism, is being finalised.
The “Go See Visit” project will both expose participants to Guyana’s current business climate and create networking opportunities for future investors. The ESDEDC regional project has also been executed by the Governments of Belize, Jamaica and Suriname.
Government has increasingly been looking to the Diaspora for investment and a ministerial sub-committee has been established to develop a diaspora policy. Minister of State Joseph Harmon had told reporters earlier this year that consultations have been done with stakeholders on a Diaspora Engagement Strategy; the stakeholders include the International Organisation for 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 had followed concerns raised by members of the diaspora of being isolated by the 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 had said.
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 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.