–as key stakeholders sign MoU
TRADE and other commercial activities between Guyana and Suriname are projected to increase, as the way has been cleared for the establishment of a Guyana-Suriname Private Sector Business Council, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the involved parties.
According to a press statement from the local Private Sector Commission (PSC), a MoU was signed with the Suriname Trade and Industry Association to enhance economic ties and initiatives between the two organisations.
The MoU was signed virtually on January 26, 2022, by Chairman of the PSC, Paul Cheong, and his Surinamese counterpart, Bryan Renten.
This move paves the way for the establishment of a ten-member council, which will comprise five members from the PSC and five members from the Suriname Trade and Industry Association.
It is expected that the council will be established within a fortnight and will hold its first meeting to discuss various areas of cooperation.
The work of the council will include the promotion of trade, industry and investment as a means toward economic growth; improvement of competitiveness through innovation and entrepreneurship; building partnerships in skills development to create solutions in education and workforce development, and the promotion of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development and exchanges.
The business council is also expected to support the creation of an enabling environment for the rapid and secure movement of goods; promotion of joint venture partnerships/formation of synergies between businesses in the two countries, among other things.
Plans to establish a council for those purposes were initiated in August, 2020, following a meeting among members of each private sector body. This followed calls by both the President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and his Surinamese counterpart, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, for the private sectors of the two countries to establish partnerships for cross-border investments.
“The two countries have always enjoyed excellent people-to-people and business relations. Notably, this initiative will birth a vibrant and improved level of partnership and cooperation between Guyana and Suriname,” the local PSC had said in a press statement.
Even further, to maximise the benefits stemming from their burgeoning oil-and-gas sectors and other developments across both economies, Guyana and Suriname had agreed to establish a common local-content platform.
“We are not in competition; we are on a journey of co-operation to maximise the benefits for people, and, in order to ensure we do it successfully, we would need to have synergies in terms of infrastructure and its use,” President Dr. Irfaan Ali had said in August.
Ultimately, the objective of enhanced collaboration between the two countries is to improve the lives of all citizens through social and economic benefits, President Ali had said.
Those benefits are expected to be derived from projects such as the bridging of the Corentyne River to connect the two countries; the establishment of a trade facilitation committee; the creation of a joint strategy to develop the oil-and-gas sectors; and a common “gas strategy”, among other things.
Mutual development could even surpass this level, as Suriname’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Co-operation, Albert Ramdin, had said that the two countries, continental neighbours, are eying the possibility of merging the two economies into a single market space, thereby boosting opportunities in both territories.
Ramdin said that an integrated approach is one that is convenient, owing to the closeness of the two countries and their economic similarities.
“We strongly believe that these two markets must be seen as one market,” the Suriname Minister emphasised.
From all indication, Presidents Ali and Santokhi share a mutual interest in enhanced collaboration geared towards the improvement of their countries’ citizens through social and economic benefits.
Recently, as an extension of this partnership, Presidents Ali and Santokhi met with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro in Suriname.
A press statement from the Office of the President specified that the leaders had planned to discuss, among other things, the formation of an energy corridor, as well as mutual opportunities within the oil-and- gas sectors of all three countries.
Guyana and Suriname have burgeoning petroleum sectors, while Brazil is one of the leading oil producers of the world. The energy corridor is expected to see the countries teaming up to share power, based on a collective understanding of their needs and ability to supply.
