Guyana’s Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister, Oneidge Walrond, has said that Guyana and the wider Caribbean seeks to attract investors who are “committed to the sustainable development of the countries and communities within which he or she operates and from which they derive value.” “We seek those who will remain with us through thick and thin as we experience those inevitable external shocks that are the reality of our Caribbean existence. In short, we wish to see patient investment which prioritizes long term returns that emanate from the sustainable, resilient economies that we hope to build, rather than cashing in on short term windfalls. Our ideal investor has a long-term horizon for return on capital as opposed to the infamous quarterly earnings’ targets which are manifestly ill-matched to the realities of our economies and our existence,” the Minister said.
Given that the Minister’s remarks can be taken to be reflective of an official Government of Guyana position, they are unlikely to escape the pointed attention of would–be participants who will travel to Georgetown to participate in the July 10-12 Third Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) which is being held here for the first time. The investment opportunities which a now oil-driven Guyana economy is likely to have to offer will undoubtedly be the magnet that will draw would-be investors from across the world to the country, though the event will be seen, simultaneously, as an occasion that can raise the level of global attention to the investment potential of the region, as a whole.
With the Tourism Minister’s own portfolio now preoccupied with shoring up amenities associated with visitor arrivals for business or leisure, her own Ministry, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce has been, of late, intensifying the promotion of the country’s tourism sector, placing emphasis on increasing the number of hotels in coastal Guyana and upgrading the infrastructure associated with hinterland tourism. Addressing a recent media launch staged by the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), the key entity behind the staging of the event, the Tourism Minister said that the focus of the investment proposals are expected to ‘zero in’ in “sustainable development,” “investment that focuses on generating long-term value rather than short-term gains, while integrating economic, social, and governance objectives into investment strategies.”
The CIF forum is likely to represent a challenge for the Minister’s Tourism portfolio, particularly, given the fact that shifts in Guyana’s development focus is likely to see a significant increase in visitor arrivals, a reality to which the Tourism portfolio has already been responding to particularly through the attention it pays to the upgrading of urban visitor occasion and focusing on the upgrading of facilities associated with hinterland tourism. The July forum, which is being executed under the theme “Transforming futures, empowering growth”, is likely to serve as a test of regional and international acceptance as a place to visit, the country having been, for years, less than visitor friendly for both socio-economic and political reasons. The listed objectives of the investment forum are to:
● Raise the visibility of the region as an investment destination;
● Attract investment into the priority sectors identified with a focus on those needed to support the transition of the region to a greener and smarter economy;
● Assemble the international investment community so that agreements can be forged on key priorities that will fast-track the region’s transition;
• Work towards attaining the sustainable development goals focused on poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth, life on land and partnerships;
