Two government ministers yesterday told a visiting delegation from Norway that Guyana is committed to continuing a 2009 forest pact with the Scandinavian country.
A delegation from Georgetown is scheduled to visit Oslo to continue talks, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said yesterday.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon noted that the Government has only been in Office for eight months and as such there are issues that need to be ironed out, particularly as it relates to agreements that were made by the previous administration. However, he said that the administration is interested in continuing the climate agreement.
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman expressed similar sentiments, the release said while pointing out that Guyana is committed to continuing its partnership with Norway because it is a model that will allow the country to develop renewable energy technologies, while sustainably exploiting the country’s natural resources.
In this regard, the release said that Trotman is expected to lead a Guyanese delegation to a follow-up meeting with his counterpart in Norway, later in the year, with a view to hammering out a new Memorandum of Understanding.
Trotman said that while the Government does not intend to abolish logging and mining, it is committed to ensuring that these activities are done sustainably.
“We are not going to open new lands, we have a set acreage and as miners relinquish [them], we reassign [them]. We will ensure that there is a healthy balance between protection of the environment and sustainable mining. We do a fairly good job of maintaining the forest cover… we have clamped down heavily on logging by Chinese companies. This has come to a minimum and I did put a ban on the export of logs, [which] was sufficient to curtail the large-scale cutting of logs that was previously taking place,” Trotman said.
Ambassador Aud Maritt Wiig who headed Oslo’s delegation said that Norway understands and appreciates the challenges of a new Government in getting acclimatised. She also applauded the country for preserving its forests.
“You are one of the countries in the world with one of the best preserved forest and I hope that is a status you would maintain. It is important for Guyana, it is important for the region and certainly it is important for the world…” she said.
The release said that Wiig also inquired about the Government’s position on the Amaila Falls hydropower project, which was a large part of the Guyana-Norway agreement.
The release said that Trotman informed the Norwegian envoy that the Amaila project was never taken off the agenda.
“Amaila Falls can and should produce energy for Guyana, but at the cost of US$1B for 160 megawatts we didn’t believe that we were getting the best deal. We are committed to hydro, we are committed to Amaila, but we were not committed to that financial model that Sithe Global and China Railway had presented,” he explained.
Senior Adviser in the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment in Norway, Hege Ragnhildstveit, said that Norway is finalising the details for a consultancy firm to commence a new feasibility study with regard to the Amaila project.
Under the five-year pact, Guyana could have earned a maximum of US$250M. However, there have been deductions from this figure for several reasons.
