–President Ali says as Guyana’s Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo kicks off
–underscores importance of transportation, logistics in regional integration

AS Guyana’s transformation continues to unfold, President, Dr Irfaan Ali has said that there needs to be the building out of infrastructure to bolster development to not only benefit Guyana but the Caribbean region overall.
The president made the call for greater collaboration in key areas during his remarks at the opening of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo at the Marriott Hotel, on Monday.

Held under the theme, “Fueling Transformation and Modernisation,” the atmosphere for the opening day of the conference and expo was filled with much anticipation, as local and international stakeholders were beaming with excitement as to what this year holds.

As President Ali took the stage to give his presentation, all eyes were glued on the Guyanese Head-of-State who has been consistently leading the charge for the transformation of Guyana’s economy to bring economic prosperity to every square inch of the nation.

According to the president, the reason that “supply chain” was added to the oil and gas conference was because investments in logistics and transportation is crucial to fostering development and, therefore, it needed to be recognised.

While explaining how Guyana’s energy potential could only be translated into value, Dr Ali stressed that the Caribbean region needs to define the market. He stressed that the crafting of infrastructure is essential to boosting integration.

“And if we can define our market space within the region itself, then it points to very low hanging fruits. But we have to build the infrastructure to facilitate this, to facilitate the movement, facilitate the trade and facilitate the integration,” Dr Ali said, adding that this is what the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is placing focus on along with opening up avenues to support energy development.

Dr Ali discussed the nation’s gas strategy, with emphasis on value to be gained by investing in upstream opportunities.
“That is what we have to do; bring the synergy to the table,” the president told the large gathering as he supported Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley’s call to explore more opportunities that will bring development to the region.

He further added: “You’re talking about a market of more than 10 million people. CARICOM, together, we have a size of a market. Individually, we do not have a size of the market.”

Giving an example of how massive opportunities are being unlocked in the Caribbean, the president said that Guyana has partnered with its CARICOM counterparts, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago to establish a ferry service that will transport cargo and passengers.

Last year, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) announced that it will finance consultancy services for a study to explore options for establishing a Maritime Cargo Service among Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago primarily for the movement of agricultural products.

The initiative, according to the CDB, is a part of the institution’s pledge to improve food security within the Caribbean, and to promote regional co-operation.
According to Dr Ali: “That investment in the regional transport infrastructure is not only key and critical, but it is profitable…And it [will] help us to achieve the goals of integration, greater levels of trade between ourselves and food security.”

RELIABLE ENERGY
As the government continues to strive to produce reliable and efficient energy at a low cost, President Ali used the opportunity to explain how the Gas-to-Energy project will make this a reality.
The project, which involves laying a 200 km, 12-inch diameter pipeline, will channel natural gas from the Liza Phase One and Phase Two Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels to a state-of-the-art power plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility in Wales.

“Now, why is this important? Our future depends on reliable, efficient energy. Currently, we do not have this. We do not have reliable, efficient energy,” he said, noting that at this time, Guyana does not have the quantum of energy to drive industrialisation and manufacturing, which is ideal for the nation’s development.

Dr Ali then went on to say: “…More importantly, it gives us the opportunity to be competitive, because at the end of this project, the cost of energy will be reduced by 50 per cent and that then puts us in the game for manufacturing, agro-processing and industry development.”

Since Guyana’s oil and gas industry emerged over the past few years, there has been a notable increase in the frequency of conferences and seminars being held in the country—a change which has been a catalyst for an increased influx of potential investors.

The energy conference and expo, which will be running for the third consecutive year, features some 200 exhibitors and hundreds of participants from 21 countries, including foreign Heads of State.
While this conference is not the first of its kind in the country, the magnitude of these events has been increasing over the years.

These numbers are not just reflective of an influx in travellers to the country, with economic benefits for tourism; they speak to a marked increase in investor interest in the nation.