— Minister Bharrat hails energy conference as more than just about oil and gas
— foreign delegations expressed interest in agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing and other sectors

THE International Energy Conference and Expo (IECE) which concluded on Friday has opened opportunities in multiple sectors, outside of just oil and gas, and the government is pleased with the manner in which the event was conducted.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle shortly after the four-day event ended, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, said that though the conference was about energy, it placed sufficient emphasis on several of Guyana’s other sectors.

“We saw numerous opportunities that were mentioned by several speakers about what exists in the other sectors: agriculture, mining, tourism, logging, manufacturing and others,” Bharrat noted, pointing out that “We saw interest from many of the foreign delegations that were here for those sectors. Mining for example, the Ghana delegation is very interested in… so they are looking for collaborations.”

The government has been continuously pushing the importance of diversification of the economy to ensure Guyana does not fall prey to the “Dutch disease” as it continues to develop the country’s young oil and gas sector.

Held under the theme “Charting a sustainable energy future”, the conference capitalised on the international attention that Guyana has been receiving as the ‘biggest thing’ in the global oil and gas industry for some time now, but looked at a wider picture than just the petroleum sector.

The IECE was privately organised and funded by the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC); however, it received the backing and support of the government for its hosting. Bharrat conveyed the government’s satisfaction with what played out.

The event saw the attendance of four heads of state and featured some 47 speakers.

“As a government we are very pleased; we are very happy with the way in which it was organized. The Organising Committee must be commended for it and I wish to thank all the foreign delegations, our local private sector, and all the Guyanese who participated in some way or the other. We express our appreciation to everyone for making it a success,” Bharrat said.

PRIMARY GOALS ACHIEVED
Communications Director for the event, Alex Graham shared that the conference achieved all of the primary goals that had been set out, with the first goal being to bring everybody into a single conversation around the future for energy.

“We wanted to bring policymakers, practitioners, professionals and professors. We are satisfied that we did that and that we did that effectively and that’s the biggest thing for us,” Graham said.
He went on to note that the conference also set out to create an environment where businesses can come together and can find each other and to “just to give a great experience”.

“We wanted to show that we can bring major players in the oil and gas industry to Georgetown, and open up the opportunities for small businesses in Georgetown to connect with serious players and that they could learn they could set up partnerships and support opportunities, and I think we achieved that as well,” Graham said.

Minister Bharrat also commended the massive opportunities and linkages that the event would have facilitated, not just the ones that were officially signed on to during the event but the potential for future agreements and collaboration.

“I believe it presented a lot of opportunities for our local private sector to collaborate and to work with international partners. That is important, especially in the oil and gas industry because our local businesses do not have the experience in the oil and gas sector. It is new to all of us. There are audit challenges and access to capital,” Minister Bharrat said.

PARTNERSHIPS ESTABLISHED
Across the four days of the conference several partnerships between local and international companies were signed or agreed upon, and unveiled. GuySons Engineering from Guyana had teamed up with US-based K&B Industries to construct a US$35 million manufacturing facility at Enmore, East Coast Demerara, paving the way for the creation of over 500 jobs.

GAICO Construction boosted its capacity to bid for major projects in the oil and gas industry and other sectors, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US-based end-to-end commissioning services company, Rev1 Energy.

GAICO also signed a MoU between itself and the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and overseas-based businesses, Hargrove and Myers Companies, for the international certified training of Guyanese in the areas of welding and fabrication.

“The local content legislation has been working very well to facilitate those kinds of partnership and joint ventures. It’s about bringing opportunities to Guyana, of course; these investments, they create jobs, for example the one in Enmore,” Bharrat shared.