The local business sector is likely to be aiming to become more deeply involved in seeking opportunities for local businesses to tap into trade opportunities between India and the Latin America and the Caribbean region, worth an estimated $US50 million, following the recent visit to India by President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Kester Hutson, to attend the August 3-4 Ninth CII India-LAC Conclave convened in New Delhi under the theme ‘Furthering Economic Partnerships for Shared & Sustained Growth’.
India, over the years, has demonstrated a consistency in pursuit of strengthened relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, that country’s bilateral relations with Guyana, particularly, becoming significantly magnified in recent years in the light of India’s response to the prospects which Guyana provides as a source of energy (oil) for one of the world’s largest economies. Beyond Guyana, the India-LAC Conclave has come to be regarded here in the Caribbean as a significant diplomatic and economic event that brings together stakeholders from India, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions, its primary goal being to foster partnerships, collaborations, and discussions across various sectors, including trade, investment, technology and culture.
The event, this year, provided an opportunity for one of Guyana’s more important private sector umbrella bodies to seek out business ‘openings’ opportunities, including potentially lucrative openings in one of the world’s largest markets. During the exchanges in Delhi, it was disclosed that bilateral trade between India, Latin America and the Caribbean countries reached US$50 billion in the Fiscal Year 2022-2023. “That certainly jumped out at us because it was a pleasant surprise to hear this and so we will continue to work through the High Commissioner’s Office in Delhi to gather some more information on that and (on) how Guyana can benefit from it in a significant way,” Mr. Hutson said. Business ties between India and Guyana would appear to have been strengthened significantly in the light of Delhi’s openly stated interest in developing a long-term relationship that affords India long-term access to supplies of oil from Guyana.
In March 2021, the first shipment of oil from Guyana was sold to India, the world’s third-largest crude importer. The realization of an agreement between Guyana and India in the matter of India’s purchase of Guyana’s shipment of crude was followed by a surfeit of agreements on Indian support for the country’s rice and sugar industries in terms of providing equipment and expertise to support the enhancement of those sectors.
During his visit to India, the GCCI President also reportedly availed himself of the opportunity to represent the GCCI at a number of engagements which sought to advocate for collaborations between Guyana and India’s private sectors at the level of possible business-to-business relations.
