-President Ali says; believes structured mechanism could unlock great potential for opportunities, investments

INTER-REGIONAL trade among the Caribbean, South America and Africa could unlock vast potential for investments and other opportunities, but a structured mechanism will be needed, Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali has said.

During a broadcast interview with the African Prosperity Network (APN), in Accra Ghana, Dr. Ali said that there are specific policies that can be targeted to enhance trade within and outside of Africa.

With the diasporic population in mind, he noted that the opportunities are endless.

“Some of these things that we need to address are structural. We need to first of all create a mechanism that allows for greater inter-regional trade and I think we need to set ourselves targets to increase our internal trade by 30 per cent, that is, reducing our external dependence by 30 per cent by 2030,” the Guyanese Head of State said.

He explained that setting such targets could see the region building mechanisms to further promote trade that will remove barriers and create an environment where the respective regions can be more competitive.

In addition, Dr. Ali noted that ‘education is key’ and efforts will be needed to develop human-resource capacity.

“Our human-resource assets must be developed [in] their capacity and capability to make us competitive and keep us competitive and to ensure that we align ourselves with what is required in the future.”

GREATER INTEGRATION

Dr. Ali explained that transportation links via sea and air will also be needed to have greater integration.
“We have to build those links; we have to create an opportunity for the market forces to drive the development of these links and that will help to push trade and create greater integration.”

He said that Guyana stands at an important geographic point and can facilitate the expansion of links to the Caribbean region, South America and Africa.

“We are the gateway to South America and we are also a part of CARICOM [the Caribbean Community]. Now Guyana allows African investments to have access to a market of over $400 million and that is trade arrangements that open up all of South America to African investment.”

“Once we are able to have investors understand the potential and opportunities that exist by investing within the region and especially in Guyana, I think they would see the viability of expanding in the region,” he added.

In January, President Ali was conferred with the prestigious Global Africa Leadership Award for his “strong and transformational leadership” since taking office in August, 2020.

The honour recognised the Guyanese President’s commitment to building ‘One Guyana’ by emphasising the need for unity, inclusivity, and shared prosperity and his strong and principled leadership during the period of heightened tension, due to the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.

Dr. Ali had travelled to Accra, Ghana, where he had participated in the Presidential Dialogues session and other panel discussions at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues Summit of Heads of State and Business Leaders.

The African Prosperity Dialogues is a three-day conference. It centred on the necessity of putting up specific recommendations that will enable Africans to achieve prosperity on the continent.

The event highlighted the special opportunity that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) offers Africa and the people to break free from the widespread perceptions of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment with which the continent is so often associated.
It is organised in close collaboration with the AFCFTA Secretariat, which is based in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Dr Ali, over the past years, has been championing several causes, many of which involved the maintenance of peace and unity.