The Kingdom of Norway on Tuesday announced that it will provide further support to High Forest Cover countries, including Guyana.
A Ministry of the Presidency release said that the announcement was made at the Climate Finance Roundtable of the High Forest Cover Low Deforestation (HFLD) Conference held in Paramaribo, Suriname.
The announcement, which was welcomed by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, was made during a presentation by Eirik Brun Sorlie, Special Envoy for Climate and Forest, Embassy of Norway in Brasilia, Brazil who represented the Minister of Environment.
Harmon, under whose purview the Department of Environment and Office of Climate Change fall, described the announcement as good news for Guyana and timely as Guyana, is pursuing its Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).
“What he did in fact say in the general meeting this morning is that the Parliament of Norway has agreed to an extension of bilateral arrangements up to 2030 and that covers the Agreement between Guyana and Norway. He said that they are looking at strengthening the partnership between us and them. So it was a very fruitful encounter and I am confident that the Norwegians want to be a part of our fight against climate change and protection of our forests and want to encourage us down that path. So we are very happy to hear that because we are currently in discussions with the Kingdom of Norway for an extension of the Agreement between the two countries,” Harmon said.
The release said that Sorlie visited Guyana on Tuesday, where he met Director, Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe and officials of the Guyana Forestry Commission.
Under the Jagdeo administration, Norway had clinched a forest protection deal with Guyana valued at US$250m over five years. Some monies were lost because of failure to meet benchmarks and disbursals have been slow as funds have been assigned to various international organizations which have to see viable project proposals first.
