Guyana’s ongoing pursuit of the externalisation of its effort to draw attention to its new-found position as a potential investment haven is set to continue this month with the country’s official participation in the July 6 to 8 Saudi-Caribbean Investment Forum which is being staged in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia.
The event, which is also being seen as the latest indication of a keenness on the part of countries in the oil-rich Middle East to further explore the investment potential of the Caribbean as a whole, will allow for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries, all members of the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), the organiser of the event, to provide potential investors from Saudi Arabia with opportunity to scrutinise, from close quarters, the investment profile here in the region, an exercise that could attract a significant, economy-enhancing wave of investment into the region as a whole.
The Government of Guyana has announced that its delegation to the forum will be led by Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, and will include representatives of both the public and private sectors. Guyana’s already previously declared interest in attracting inward investment from countries in the Middle East, not least Saudi Arabia, will be afforded yet another opportunity to ‘do business’ with the Saudis during the forum which gets underway, next Wednesday.
Back in February, President Irfaan Ali engaged a visiting high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led by the country’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir. Official reports on that visit indicated that talks between local officials and the visiting Saudis included possible bilateral pursuits in areas that include oil and gas, climate change, and Guyana’s transformative agenda and investment opportunities consistent with its new-found role as a major oil producer.
CAIPA, which was set up back in 2007, says that its interest is focussed on ensuring the effective collaboration of investment promotion initiatives at a regional or sub-regional level, its over-arching objective being the promotion of the Caribbean as a prime destination for both intra-regional and extra-regional investment.
For its part, the Guyana delegation at the forum will presumably be seeking to build as well as further strengthen business and investment bridges with the Saudis.
The Barbados-based regional trade and investment promotion agency, Caribbean Export, serves as the Secretariat for CAIPA which was launched in 2007 to facilitate the collaboration of regional Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs). The entity’s president, Annette Marks, says she sees the forum as an “opportunity to deepen relationships between the Caribbean and Saudi Arabia.”
Guyana has, since the confirmation by ExxonMobil of extensive deposits of oil and gas in the country’s territorial waters, expressed an interest in working with the oil-rich countries of the Middle East in the furtherance of the development of its own oil and gas sector.
Setting aside Guyana’s pursuit of its particular investment interests during the CAIPA forum, other member countries of the organisation are also expected to present their own projects for appraisal by the visiting Saudis.
Marks is quoted as saying that “in addition to country presentations, the forum will offer one-on-one meetings with investors,” which, she says, will offer an opportunity “for CAIPA members to promote opportunities within their countries.” From a Guyana perspective, the government has reportedly said that it will be pushing for investment in sectors that include logistics and transportation, renewable energy, infrastructure, hotel and resort development, and agribusiness.
