President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that the government is working on a holistic immigration policy to cater for mounting issues such as contractors not being able to find labourers.
“I had a meeting on Friday with the contractors, and they’re all behind schedule now because they can’t find labour. They can’t find workers, and this is a major problem that we’re going to be faced with. Some may say it’s a good problem to have, but it’s a very troubling problem. So, we are working now on a holistic immigration policy, not only for the diaspora but understanding critically what the demand will be in three years, five years and ten years”, he said according to a statement from the Office of the President.
Speaking at the virtual Global Business Leadership Forum, Ali disclosed that a leading expert has been hired in the area and that person will work along with the country’s local team to examine the issue and provide an analysis that will be used to form a policy.
“We need people badly and we need them now, and with the type of infrastructure that we’re investing in, the type of healthcare service we’re investing, the type of education services that we’re investing in, guess what? Those services, when they’re fully built out in five years to 10 years, will require people to consume the service”, he said.
The President also called regional integration a fundamental pillar of Guyana’s economic development.
The President said that CARICOM has “enormous” economic potential and that Guyana is willing to provide a platform through which investors can realise such. He also mentioned upcoming events to facilitate this, including the country’s hosting of the region’s Agriculture Investment Forum in May.
Ali’s remarks might be seen as an attempt to counter declarations by some close to his government that Guyana should consider departing from CARICOM to protect access to its oil and gas sector.
The President said that while trade barriers still exist between CARICOM nations in a “major way”, recently, there has been a greater push to remove them.
The statement said that he also used the opportunity to highlight Guyana’s traditional sectors as well as the issues that the country has faced in the past in realising its development priorities.
“For me, oil and gas is just a catalyst to do the very things that could have been done decades ago”, he told the forum.
The Global Business Leadership Forum was chaired by the Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Deodat Maharaj and included other organisations from North America.
