Following talks with President Irfaan Ali on Monday in Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has emphasised the importance of inclusive growth and strengthened transparency.
In a tweet yesterday on the importance of the relationship between the US and Guyana, Blinken said “Guyana remains a key partner as we work to bolster food and energy security, promote shared prosperity and inclusive growth, strengthen transparency, and safeguard the environment”.
Observers say Blinken’s words would have been carefully chosen. The reference to “shared prosperity” would be seen as underlining concerns that have arisen here that oil revenues have to benefit all parts of society. The same would be the case with the reference to “inclusive growth”. His underlining of the strengthening of transparency would also likely speak to concerns that some key government activities remain enveloped in secrecy. His reference to safeguarding the environment will be seen as interesting in the light of Guyana’s rapid extraction of oil resources and concerns about decisions related to the environment.
The points raised by Blinken have also been stressed by other US government officials.
On October 7th last year, Pedro J Martin, the US State Department’s Acting Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs in addressing the opening reception for participants in the ‘Doing Business with Guyana’ conference in south Florida made a call for Guyana to have “productive, inclusive dialogue” on the issues of the local content policy and the Natural Resource Fund which Washington believes can foster opportunities for all Guyanese and benefit the country as a whole.
“Taken together, the local content policy and careful investment from the Natural Resource Fund can foster opportunities for all Guyanese and benefit the country as a whole. We look forward to and publicly call for productive, inclusive dialogue on these important issues,” Martin said.
He added that by building a culture of transparency, predictability, stability, accountability, and due process, in addition to implementing international best practices in procurement, and promoting mutually beneficial local partnerships, Guyana has the opportunity to be a real leader in the region.
On December 8th last year, US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch said that the United States anticipates anti-corruption initiatives from Guyana. She said a “strong” stance will demonstrate the government’s commitment to transparent institutions that utilize the country’s resources to the long-term benefit for all Guyanese.
Lynch made the comment in a statement to observe International Anti-corruption Day. In her statement, Lynch said that governments and institutions cannot allow corruption to flourish, while adding that the construction of legislative frameworks for the promotion of transparency and combatting corruption are steps in the right direction. Additionally, the US envoy explained that the enhancement of criminal justice institutions with the power to investigate and successfully prosecute corruption is another crucial step to deter the practice.
She said that government operations should be transparent to the extent that both citizens and the media can provide oversight and hold officials accountable.
Meanwhile, in a release yesterday from Washington, President Ali said that Guyana is looking forward to strengthening its relationship with the US “as a strategic partner” particularly during its period of economic growth.
The release noted that the Head of State in the meeting with Blinken spoke of the shared values of the two countries and their quests to strengthen the region.
“We look forward to discussing how jointly we can continue to work on the issues of food security, climate, financing, working in the region in terms of debt crisis facing CARICOM [Caribbean Community], but more importantly, finding a balanced development strategy, and in doing so, staying true to the value system, principles that both of us believe so strongly in – that is a democratic society where transparency, accountability, and strong governance support for the development of Guyana”, the release quoted Ali as saying.
Continuation
Ali noted that the discussions in Washington were a continuation of the dialogue between the two countries, initiated during June’s Ninth Summit of the Americas, where critical issues such as food security, energy security, financing, and the issue of climate change, for CARICOM as a region were identified. He also reminded that Guyana is already providing leadership, including on issues of the environment, while pursuing the country’s development agenda.
“We are pursuing an energy path that seeks to balance our newfound natural resource of oil and gas, but we are not doing that at the detriment of our credentials on environment and climate change. As you rightfully pointed out, our forests stores 19.5 kilotons of carbon. We are a net zero country…,” the President was quoted as saying.
The release said that the US Secretary of State in turn highlighted that Guyana has been a very strong partner for the United States and is in many ways a global leader. The two countries, he noted, will continue to advance discussions and collaboration in areas for cooperation.
“We’re working together in our region and beyond to try to find solutions to urgent challenges, to include climate, to include food security, energy security. We’re working on issues together, and I think coming out of the Summit of the Americas in particular, there is a lot more energy in those efforts, including some things that we’re working on very actively right now that I know we’ll be sharing in the weeks ahead.”
The United States, he went on to emphasise, is “very eager to continue to deepen and strengthen the partnership,” which he posited will also redound to the benefit of the region given the fact that Georgetown, the country’s capital, is also the seat of CARICOM.
“This for us is a very important and vital institution, one with which President Biden, Vice President Harris had, I think, a very significant and important engagement at the Summit of the Americas. So I look forward to continuing the conversations that we all started there and to deepening the work that we’ve already begun between our countries.”
Ali was accompanied in Washington by Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd; Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud; and Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Samuel Hinds.