MASTERING a new skill often requires experience gained over time. Many of us are familiar with situations where a teacher or coach with an understanding or skill was able to teach us something that would have otherwise taken many years without his/her guidance. Some painful missteps and long delays can be avoided with the right tool or the right knowledge at the right time. The challenge is knowing when to ask for help from those who have already been successful in learning that skill.

This concept is directly transferable to the energy sector. With first oil just over one year ago, we have graduated into the ranks of young oil producing countries with a big future ahead. Although it has completed some key early tasks, like setting up the Natural Resources Fund, the government still needs to set up other regulatory institutions as it plans for the future. Most importantly, Guyana needs to draft, pass and enact the legislation needed to safeguard itself from some of the most prominent oil development challenges. Fortunately, the current government is focused on taking the right steps and has shown a willingness to learn from the valuable experience of others, not just those in the government. This includes members of the private sector and international advisors.

While seeking international advice might seem contrary to the goal of keeping development local, external expertise can help countries navigate setting up institutions and policies that reduce corruption while ensuring revenues are carefully saved for the future. International advisors can also help the government assess and carry out infrastructure and social programmes, ensuring that oil revenues lead to sustainable growth.

Few countries have the expertise on hand immediately to address the unique and complex challenges of managing a new sector to build long term wealth and prosperity while avoiding roadblocks along the way.

The government has already engaged organisations like the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank as well as individual consultants from Canada, the UK and elsewhere to provide analysis. In March, the government released a newspaper ad inviting advisors to consult with the Ministry of National Resources on drafting technical oil and gas legislation. Guyana has also used international advisors during the auditing processes for international oil company expenditures.

This is standard practice throughout the industry and among Guyana’s neighbours. An international auditing and accounting services provider, for example, is already working regionally with Suriname to solve some of the same challenges that Guyana is facing.

The Middle Eastern Gulf States, particularly Dubai and Qatar, have long histories of employing international advisors in the areas of governance, finance and energy. International experts have helped these countries set up institutions early on to avoid potential pitfalls from oil and gas production and volatile oil prices.

Dubai is a particularly helpful example. After oil was found in Dubai and its neighboring emirates in the 1960s, Dubai’s leadership became concerned that oil wealth would be shortlived. So, it employed a raft of experts from Europe and the US to help invest oil revenues into building a post-oil future centred around trade. Those early investments in critical infrastructure and smart policymaking helped transform Dubai.

Today, less than five percent of Dubai’s revenues come from oil, and the city has become a global financial and trade hub recognised for its stable and business-friendly governance and world-class infrastructure.

Qatar also benefitted from outside advice to carefully save its massive natural gas revenues over recent decades while using those revenues to make strategic investments in local and international companies. Advisors have also helped Gulf states set up sovereign wealth funds, much like Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund, that now rank as some of the largest in the world.

Our government is consulting with Gulf State governments and others directly so they can share their experiences and offer best practices.

It’s important to remember that the goal here is not to become another Dubai or to import the governing styles and policies of another country. Our future is our own, but the experiences of countries and advisors who have navigated the same extraordinary set of changes can provide valuable insights that will help Guyana shape its own path.