Prime Minister Mark Phillips yesterday facilitated a meeting between the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Guyana, Jorge Francisco Luis, and Executives of the Cuban company Sistemas de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Construcciones SA de CV (SIECSA), and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
The meeting, which was held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Georgetown, focused on GPL’s collaboration with SIECSA to enhance the power company’s operations and the strengthening of its technical capabilities, a release from the Prime Minister’s office said.
Phillips, who has ministerial responsibility for the nation’s energy sector, said that Guyana welcomes the collaboration and that this is “another example of South-to-South cooperation between Guyana and Cuba.”
Ambassador Luis reiterated Cuba’s commitment to its bilateral ties with Guyana, the development of the nation, and improving the lives of the Guyanese people.
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (ag.), Kesh Nandlall and the Divisional Director of Power Generation and Distribution, Bharat Harjohn, were also present at the meeting.
President Irfaan Ali recently stated that Cuba will assist with engineers to help manage GPL’s electricity system, as an agreement was signed with Qatari power company, UCC Holdings, which has a strategic alliance in Latin America for the Turkish Karpower ship.
“They have very skilled technical personnel who they are willing to deploy immediately to work in the system and to help us technically,” he said, following a meeting with the Cuban Ambassador, as he announced that Havana pledged to have 10 engineers urgently dispatched here.
Ali said that many times, government has sought local engineers but has “not been able to do that due to the demand for engineers.”
