–Finance Minister tells leaders at 49th Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

AS the world continues to grapple with the effects of climate change and other crises, long-lasting solutions are needed to ensure resilience in all dimensions.

This was according to Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, who was at the time addressing the 49th Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday.

Referencing the recent horrific earthquakes that rocked the Republic of Türkiye and northern Syria, Minister Singh said these events underscore the grave threat which natural hazards pose, and highlight the urgency with which leaders need to move as a global community to find lasting solutions aimed at reinforcing resilience in all dimensions.

In this regard, Minister Singh highlighted Guyana’s efforts in advancing the country’s climate security, food security, and energy security.

“The climate crisis represents an existential threat to our planet and requires collective global action. Guyana welcomes the chairing of the upcoming COP-28 by the United Arab Emirates; we look forward to greater balance in the climate debate, including by bringing the development and poverty reduction imperatives back on the agenda,” he said.

He noted that a concerted action on forests preservation is needed, given the role of forests not only in the fight against climate change, but also in protecting biodiversity and in combating desertification.

“As a heavily forested country, Guyana calls on the global community to recognise that there is no solution to the climate crisis without forests,” Dr. Singh said.

Turning his attention to food security, the Finance Minister related that the ongoing onslaught of climate change, along with COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, reversed many of the gains that the global community made in improving food security. However, Guyana has been able to get back on track.

Under the leadership of President Dr. Irfaan Ali, Guyana is currently spearheading the preparation of a strategy for the Caribbean Region to address food security.

This strategy aims at increasing food production and productivity, ramping up agro-processing and value-added production, and promoting agri-business and intra-regional trade in food products.

“We urge this Council to call on the global community to leverage financial resources both public and private to increase food production, deploy science and technology to raise productivity, and remove barriers to regional and global trade in food products,” Dr. Singh said.

He related, too, that energy security is inextricably linked to climate and food security, noting: “Adequate and competitively priced energy is critical for the viability of value-added production.”
Guyana is working to transition to clean energy in the fight against climate change.

“Ramping up energy production and transitioning to cleaner energy require significant financial investment by both the public and private sectors. We urge this Council to call on the global community to recognize the crippling energy deficit in so many of our countries and to mobilize financial resources to help address this deficit while at the same time support the transition to cleaner sources of energy,” Dr. Singh said.