–Dr. Jagdeo says investors see vast potential outside of oil and gas

GUYANA continues to be a global hotspot for investors, and not just because of its booming oil-and-gas sector, but also due to the consistent progress and investments in its non-oil sectors, which have attracted the eyes of many.
This was according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday.
He highlighted that the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo is displaying the country’s untapped potential.

The conference, which is being held from February 18-21, received commendations from the PPP General Secretary, who is also the nation’s Vice-President. He said that it is the largest ever in Guyana with representatives from over 60 countries.
Speaking more on the buzz at the conference, Dr. Jagdeo said that many participants expressed a healthy interest in Guyana’s non-oil sectors.
Sole reliance on the oil-and-gas sector has resulted in economic devastation for many countries, and Guyana’s policymakers have learnt from those nations’ mistakes.

Dr. Jagdeo said: “We want to use the conference to draw attention to the rich potential of Guyana for expansion and growth, and wealth creation for our people in numerous areas outside of the oil-and-gas industry. And this is consistent with our approach for economic diversification, with the view in mind that at some stage in the future, the prosperity from the oil-and-gas sector will decline, and if we want to maintain national prosperity, we have to, in the interim, [enhance] the other sectors to fill that gap whenever that happens.”
With over 1,000 local companies being accredited, Dr. Jagdeo said that the potential for these businesses to grow through collaboration with foreign companies is present because of the conference.
“This is really exciting; it’s not a damp affair,” he said.

The shift in how the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo is being run currently, compared to how it was under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration was pointed out by Dr. Jagdeo.
“The past government, they had a foreign company running this oil-and-gas conference. Now, it’s a Guyanese who’s running it. They have a secretariat, mainly of women and mainly Guyanese women who are running the entire conference, and it’s done at an international level,” he said.

Dr. Jagdeo compared the current conference to its previous years under APNU+AFC, when investors expressed dissatisfaction over those policymakers’ frequent inability to offer concrete direction when it came to policy matters.
“Under the previous APNU+AFC government, policy direction was unclear, and ministers were scarce. Now, if you ask about policy, there are clear answers,” he said.