— Gov’t slams anti-investment ad

DESCRIBING the move as unpatriotic, senior ministers of government on Wednesday slammed the masterminds behind a paid advertisement, which appeared in two local newspapers, discouraging investors from investing in Guyana.
The ad was published in the Kaieteur and Stabroek newspapers on Wednesday February 7 – the same day hundreds of international, regional and local investors were converging at the Marriott Hotel for the opening of the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit (GIPEX 2018) – a first for the country.

On the sideline of GIPEX 2018, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, though expressing disappointment, said Guyana is nonetheless on the move.
“It is disappointing that the Opposition would sink to [a] new dark depth by placing an advertisement to discourage investment in Guyana, when the world’s top industries are in country seeking partners. Thankfully, they are not fazed and things are moving. Guyana’s time is now!”

Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who was also among ministers of government present at the GIPEX 2018 opening ceremony, told reporters that boundaries were crossed.
“If we have a difference in the family, I am sure we can solve it, but when you bring it nationally so as to bring harm and put our country into disrepute, I think everybody, every right-thinking Guyanese, should be able to say no, we have our differences but no, we don’t need to carry it this far,” Minister Jordan said in response to the ad.
He said Guyanese should reject any move to destabilise the country. Minister Jordan said while there is provision for freedom of speech, the ad and the authors of it went beyond the boundary and should not be tolerated.

“Anything that can damage the economy as opposed to damaging oneself or even a narrow group, is cause for concern,” the finance minister posited.
But like the Natural Resources Minister, Minister Jordan believes that the paid ad will not stop Guyana from progressing.

“I don’t think it is going to hurt us essentially… really don’t think that they (the investors) are going to be worried about it,” he posited, while adding that the country “will not lose sleep over such a thing”.

Minister Jordan said GIPEX 2018, which creates a platform for networking and partnership opportunities for local, regional and international investors at a time when Guyana is gearing up for production in early 2020, creates a win-win situation for all.
WIN-WIN

“It is a win-win for all of us. We are winning here, because of the fact that we have so many people in Guyana at this time, adding to our growth, adding to our GDP, helping us create jobs. We are winning in the sense, because we are getting part of the proceeds to educate, so that [we] can make Local Content a reality and also ownership in terms of the revenues and the management of those revenues. “And the participants are winning because they are getting an opportunity to showcase what they have to Guyana, to the Caribbean and to the rest of the world. So it is a win, win all around and this is what I call a partnership,” the finance minister explained.

He noted that this is the beginning of greater things to come, and the government will put the necessary systems in place to maintain an enabling environment for citizens, investors and business operators here.

“We will continue to do what it is we have to do, which is try to create a stable political environment in Guyana, try to stabilise the macroeconomics of the country, try to as far as possible bring about some level of social cohesion… they [investors] are looking for political maturity and stability, they are looking for an economy that is growing and that has promise and they are looking for people who appear to be united, if not united, that the country is socially stable,” Minister Jordan further noted.

In a separate interview at the Guyana Marriott, Minister of State Joseph Harmon told reporters that in spite of the “negative vibes” that are coming from certain quarters, the government in partnership with the private sector is moving with full force to develop Guyana to its true potential.

“Some people their comments are becoming irrelevant to the development of Guyana. We as a country, we will continue to press on. The government, the private sector, all of the stakeholders, we will continue to press on to develop the resources of this country for the benefit of all of our people, including those who have negative comments to make,” Minister Harmon stated.

He warned that the world is looking at Guyana.