A team from Norway is due here this week for talks with Guyana on the five-year forest protection agreement which ended last year with mixed results.
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday said that the team headed by Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Brazil and Guyana, Aud Marit Wiig, is expected to hold a series of meetings and field visits toproject sites, which Oslo has supported through the Guyana-Norway Agree-ment.
The release said that the team will include Anahita Yousefi from the Norwegian Ministry of Environment; Simon Ry, Development Policy Director; Tron Lovda, Senior Adviser at Norway’s Department for Climate, Energy and Environment and Senior Adviser Hege Ragnhildstveit from the Rainforest Foundation Norway.
The release noted that the future of the Guyana-Norway pact has been clouded by uncertainty following the change in administrations in May. The future of the agreement was first discussed at a meeting held in Paris, France in December between the two countries in the presence of representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, said both parties had agreed at that point to formulate a document on the future of the relationship. He said he is looking forward to the visit, as it is vital that the Norwegians see what has been accomplished so far under the project.
“We are committed to this relationship and its continuation. They will be meeting Ministers, Heads of agencies, the Opposition and civil society and we are looking forward to a successful project,” Trotman was quoted in the release as saying.
While the agreement expired in 2015, Trotman said that the two governments had a verbal understanding that works would continue as there remained some outstanding deliverables.
“This is a fact-finding mission to see what has been accomplished so far, but we are both committed to finishing that previous one and then entering into a new one,” Trotman said.
Since the agreement was signed in 2009, Guyana has earned approximately US$190 million. Of the total amount, US $69.8 million has been transferred to the Guyana REDD+Investment Fund (GRIF) while US$80 million was transferred to the IDB for the delayed Amaila Falls Hydropower Power Project.
The US$80m is likely to be a key topic of the discussions. Oslo had been keen on this sum being applied to the Amaila project which had been seen as a major step towards `greening’ the country’s energy profile. However, that project ground to a halt after May when the new government took office as when in opposition, both of its constituents: APNU and the AFC had expressed grave concerns over its cost and feasibility. The discussions will likely address the circumstances under which the US$80m can be used for other green energy projects if the Amaila project isn’t proceeded with.
Several of the projects funded outside of the US$80m tranche have made slow progress.
The release said that the team is also expected to meet with Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, and Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock.
