As United Kingdom-based company Valiant Business Media (VBM) prepares to host the third Guyana Petroleum Exhibition (GIPEX) summit virtually next month, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday announced that government would not be participating, citing concerns about inadequate local content initiatives and accusing the organisers of ties to the opposition.
“Once this Valiant is organising it, we will not participate and I am making that very clear,” Jagdeo yesterday told a press conference he hosted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
It is not the first time Jagdeo had expressed concern about the hosting of the forum as when he had been Leader of the opposition, he had condemned the then seeming lack of local participation and the exorbitant costs for display booths.
“I spoke about the company, VALIANT, when we were in opposition. I believe it is connected to a few individuals. We don’t have a high regard for the company. I know a few well connected people in APNU that may be connected,” Jagdeo said as he pointed out that Guyanese are well able to host and promote similar events and conferences.
But the conference organiser has refuted the claims and said that there seems to be misinformation about it, as not only does it not have any affiliation with the opposition or any of their family members but that it is a company guided and run on United Kingdom business principles and practices.
A VALIANT executive said that they learned of government’s planned boycott on Friday and will be seeking a meeting to iron out any concerns and address the “misconceptions and blatant misinformation.”
“I saw Mr. Jagdeo’s response and I think there is a lot of misinformation and we will see if we can get discussions with the government. I think next week we will try to get a discussion.” Managing Director of VALIANT, Shariq Abdul-Hai, told this newspaper on Friday from his London home.
“If Mr. Jagdeo announced this, we will have to officially hear from the ministry to see what will be the next step. I call it a bit unfortunate. We have always followed the law, done things through the proper way. It comes down to local content and there is this misconception that all the money is taken out and not benefitted the local companies which we will show is so not true. We have always used local companies. We are following all the laws. There are a lot of things we are seeking discussions on,” he added.
On claims of ties to the opposition, Abdul-Hai said he was dumbfounded since the initiative to bring the conference here was one solely of the company and he invested time to make it happen since 2015.
“If someone is saying it that we have this tie to anyone, is it for us to prove it? But I can tell you that we do not. As a standard procedure, I went to the High Commission in London since back then. Appointments were set up transparently and we worked. I can tell you that if it is ever proved that there is a relationship between the company and previous administration then we are not a good company, but that is not the case. When the new administration came in, we maintain we are absolutely apolitical. Being a British company there are laws and guidelines we have to follow operating overseas. We must or face penalties. We have absolutely no connections from the previous government,” he asserted.
“We have worked with governments in different companies and have similar arrangements. We have no political affinity. We have never done any other work with opposition or this government. Our key is to promote Guyana as a key destination for investment and show the developments that will happen in the country. We are excited to work with Guyana and that is why we do what we do. We have no political ambitions. It is the nature of the events industry,” he added.
He said the announcement “has caused a lot of inconvenience” and the company now has to set aside planning and deal with the issue frontally. It is why they will seek “to have discussions with the government and clear up any misinformation.”
The government’s announcement came even as concerns have again been raised here by the local private sector about the lack of their involvement and overall local content participation.
Guyana’s local private sector bodies this week expressed their concerns about foreign companies attaching Guyana’s name to oil and gas summits and conferences without involving local companies, and it comes on the heels of complaints by the Guyana Oil Gas and Energy Chamber (GOGEC) that locals are being stymied.
“We are all in favour of helping the local private sector and looking for ways of how that can be done. We have to also look at the use of the Guyana brand. Guyana for Guyanese. It is important that we take steps to prevent the abuse of the Guyana and Guyanese brands,” Private Sector Commission President Paul Cheong told this newspaper.
A similar posture comes from the Georgetown Chamber of Industry and Commence, which said that the body was so concerned about the number of events listed as related to Guyana but with no tangible local involvement, that it decided to not only express concern, but act and organise a forum of its own in September.
“There are several oil and gas slated events, almost every month there is a Guyana oil and gas event. It is always stated ‘Guyana’ but none of it is held by Guyanese. If the private sector is pushing for local content, then it is important that in everything we do… I mean if we approach the oil and gas sector we need to approach it from a local content stance. That is why the GGCI ha its own event, that we launched early this year, in September,” GCCI President Timothy Tucker said.
Their comments followed a release from GOGEC which stated that as GIPEX prepares to be hosted here, local companies are being stymied from participating, and the body raised overall dissatisfaction with the fact that foreign companies are flooding the local markets and bolstering their images by using locals and the Guyana name as a front.
But VALIANT has dismissed the claims against it and said that not only did it dedicate more effort to local content maximisation this year, but it also has its record to show that the virtual event has recorded numbers of locals registered and a directive to not allow costs to be a deterrent for any company. Noted, too, is that fees have been slashed as low as US$99 [$20,000] for small and startup companies and that all University of Guyana students pursuing fields in the sector can access the event for free.
‘Invading’
GOGEC on Wednesday issued a release saying that it is “concerned that its efforts to promote local content is being stymied by foreign companies invading the Guyanese market with all kinds of summits and exhibitions.”
It said that sponsorship costs and registration fees are way beyond that of what the average local private sector company could afford.
“Participating companies are required to sponsor or attend at exorbitant prices and all these monies are taken out of the local economy. In some cases a pittance is given, if any, to the local collaborators and the bulk of the profits goes out of Guyana with little or no benefit to Guyanese,” GOGEC said.
GOCEC said that it has “also observed that there seems to be an attempt to divide and exploit some local private sector groups with speaking slots as an incentive to add their name to the events.”
“As far as I am aware, the Private Sector Commission, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry have not added their name to the GIPEX 2021 Conference in June. GOCEC is definitely not participating in this GIPEX summit. Our membership is committed to local content in the interest of all Guyanese, especially the poor and vulnerable,” it adds.
According to GIPEX organisers, the conference is slated to be hosted from June 28-30 by the Ministry of Natural Resources and is supported by the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association (GMSA).
GMSA President Rafeek Khan told the Stabroek News that while its name is attached as a support organisation for the event, the body is yet to be given a clear understanding of their participation and how local content will be promoted.
Khan said that it was very “alarming” that the body’s name was being used and they are still to get a clear understanding on a Memorandum of Understanding signed between GMSA and GIPEX.
He informed that he was writing to the conference organisers for clarity.
GOGEC is advocating for locals to promote a summit for the sector organised by the Private Sector as it has the capacity to do so.
“The Guyanese Private Sector is capable of promoting its own summit and exhibition and we should encourage local content. The operators and all the sub-contractors should make every effort to assist and work with the Guyanese Private Sector to advance and promote all future summits and conferences. We call on all players in the oil and gas industry to support local content and avoid these carpetbaggers,” GOGEC states.
‘Unfortunate’
Valiant Business Media, on the other hand, believes it brings a product that the Guyana’s private sector can maximise on and Abdul-Hai said that he was saddened at GOGEC’s criticisms but chalked it up to the organisation not knowing the details of what is proposed.
“I wouldn’t want to refute anything directly because I am not sure what prompted Mr. Persaud to circulate the newsletter. GIPEX, right from the start, has always been from the local content side of things and especially this year from what the Ministry of Natural Resources has directed,” Abdul-Hai said.
“The event is set to happen virtually. And particularly this year, we have had discussions… and the reason GMSA got involved was because from those discussions it was decided that it [the conference] would focus heavily and be on the local content side. We wanted to ensure maximisation of the small and medium size companies and startups. Because of the lack of space at the 1st and 2nd GIPEX, given now it is virtual, that restriction is for companies and encourages wider participation. So, we do not want to leave out a single company because of budgetary reasons,” he added.
He noted that the company was also blindsided by GOGEC’s release, as everything was going smoothly and they had not gotten any complaints from either individuals or organisations.
“We have not received any complaints. We are doing our best in our capacity to facilitate the participation of local companies. It is important because we have been able to attract a large number of international companies and we understand that this is an avenue to network with the local companies,” he stressed.
On speakers, he said that most of the speakers are from non-sponsoring groups because the organisation wants “to ensure the agenda is balanced and benefit the people attending the conference.”
And where the GMSA has written for clarification, Abdul-Hai said he had received correspondence and that he was in the process of replying to assure the GMSA that the company will not stray away from its MOU commitments and that local content should not be a worry.
“We are in regular contact with GMSA. The main reason for having GMSA was so that we can reach out to maximum number of indigenous Guyanese companies. We are working with GMSA in that respect. I don’t see any issue there. The discussions started with Sham Nokta when he was president and he emphasized the push for maximum local content, him and the Minister of Natural of Resources. We understand that,” he said.
He said the issues raised are “a bit unfortunate in that sense” but the company will relentless work to address them and ensure that the conference is bigger and better that the last two and gives both organisers and attendees something to eagerly look forward to next year .
