It was last July that President Irfaan Ali made his appearance at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre fully attired in Saudi Arabian dress to discuss investment with a trade delegation from the kingdom. While the robes lend the native wearer an appearance of great dignity, the effect was the opposite for the President, who came across not as an equal, but as a supplicant. It was not a good impression from the point of view of this nation. As it was the Saudis asked for a special investment regime, their leader, Badr al Badr, the Deputy Minister for Investors Outreach, saying. “[W]e should be looking for also some type of terms and conditions that are tailor-made also for the Saudi companies.”
What he requested specifically was “a special desk under your presidency or even in one of the ministries that handles Saudi investments and looks after Saudi investors.” President Ali wasted no time responding: “…not only a special desk we want to create, but we also want to create a special presence with the establishment of your embassy. But in the meantime, consider it done. As of today, there will be a Saudi Arabia Desk in the Ministry of Finance …”
This decision had come under criticism, including in an editorial in this newspaper at the time, but the President was unrepentant. Among other things he questioned the rationale behind the criticisms saying he had worked in the Ministry of Finance and there had been a desk for the Japanese Grant Aid Programme there as well as a CIDA desk and a USAID desk, so “why suddenly there is an objection to a [Saudi Arabia] desk?” The answer is that these were desks dealing with aid, not trade and investment. He went on, rather discreditably, to ascribe the criticism as falling under the umbrella of “Islamophobia”.
As we had reported, country desks are usually established in foreign ministries for the purpose of the deeper study of relations with a given country. In the case of investment, a desk can also be set up in the Guyana Office for Investment, and in fact the SN editorial argued that all investor arrangements should be handled by this Office, and that Mr al Badr’s request for “special incentives” and terms and conditions that were “tailor-made” for Saudi companies was not acceptable.
When asked about why the desk could not be established in this Office or in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the President answered with one of his non-sequiturs: “We have one government in Guyana. The Foreign Affairs is a ministry under the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Finance is a ministry… You sure the desk is the problem?”
Given the excitement on the part of the head of state about the prospect of Saudi investment, and given the alacrity with which he acceded to Riyadh’s request for special treatment, one would have expected that four months later matters would have been moving apace. If they have, the public has not been alerted to it, which it must be conceded is more-or-less the norm where supposed foreign investments are concerned. In this particular case, however, there is a greater interest because of the now infamous ‘Desk’.
Last week we reported that this newspaper had been trying for more than two months to get the government to confirm whether the Saudi Arabia desk actually had been established in the Ministry of Finance, and what investments had materialised from the investment engagement of July 9. Three reporters had on several occasions reached out to Minister of Finance Ashni Singh for information on the ‘Desk’ as well as on investments, but up to this point he had refused to answer questions. Instead, we reported, he had promised interviews but that these had never materialised.
It was on Thursday that our reporter made the most recent attempt. This was at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre when Minister Singh gave his stock reply, refusing to answer questions but promising an interview. He did however say that the investments were “plenty”. Well this is astonishing. If investments (presumably including Saudi ones) are all that plentiful it would surely profit the government to inform the public without delay; it would be testimony to the success of their efforts and give a promise of hope to citizens in terms of jobs, etc. The President himself was quoted earlier as saying, “We want to partner with the world but you must understand that we also want to move quickly. We have an obligation to the people of this country to deliver to them as fast as we can.”
So will Minister Singh say if the ‘Desk’ has been set up and whether it is functioning? Or is it the case that a special area has been identified in his Ministry for dealing with Saudi Arabian deals but that it has not been activated as yet? If nothing has happened, perhaps either he or the President would like to explain what is holding up the process.
While the Guyana government is clearly all gung-ho about Saudi Arabian trade and investment, Riyadh is likely to be a great deal more cautious. Although it clearly has an interest in investing here, it will probe the local situation with some thoroughness. It may be, of course, that there have been preliminary discussions with the Guyana side, and that impediments have been encountered in terms of what the Saudis want. The SN editorial in July had observed that “marvellous investment promises” emanating from the Middle East had been made frequently before, but had come to nothing.
It should be noted that before the Saudi delegation arrived here it had participated in a regional investment forum in the Dominican Republic. There, columnist David Jessop reported, Mr Badr al Badr had said that while the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Guyana were the main targets, the Caribbean had been identified as a “primary zone” for executing Saudi Arabia’s 2030 national divestment investment strategy. To this end he suggested that Caricom heads should “establish an institutional framework to develop the relationship, starting at the level of Leaders and Ministers.” The focus would be on investment in tourism, agriculture and energy. Could it be that Guyana’s impatience notwithstanding, Riyadh is looking for progress in relation to a larger framework on the Caribbean front first?
During the same month as the Saudi encounter took place, President Ali appeared at the centre for Strategic and International Studies speaking about the need for a rapid growth of investment. He was reported as saying that investment had to be based on the investor nation’s capacity to move forward the development path of the country in which it was to invest. He was quoted as commenting that it had to be founded on “ensuring respect for fundamental principles, ensuring support for common values.” What he meant by common values is not clear, but one wonders how that is to be applied in Saudi Arabia’s case.
One suspects that the President’s haste bordering on impetuosity in acceding to Riyadh’s requirement of a ‘Desk’ did not mesh with the Saudi timetable, which is why the Finance Minister is avoiding questions now. This is quite aside from the fact that the parameters of Saudi investment proposals needed a full exploration before the head of state made any public commitment. But as it is he did so, and now citizens are entitled to know the answer to the question: What has happened to the ‘Desk’?
