Less than ten years after the earliest confirmation of Guyana’s status as a potential ‘world class’ oil producer had materialized, courtesy of ExxonMobil’s ‘world class’ offshore oil strike, global perceptions of the country have undergone some measure of change from what had obtained a handful of years ago.
The promise of significant oil-driven socio-economic transformation that now promises to materialize out of the country’s new found petro status now appears more prominent than it had been at any previous time in the country’s post-independence history. No less significant is the greater ‘space’ that the country now occupies as an area of global strategic significance on the global map, which, of course, is attended by favourably altered global perceptions of its image as a state within the international community.
Of particular significance here has been the dramatic transformation of global perceptions of a country that has now stripped itself of its one-time ‘banana republic’ image, projecting itself as an emerging petro power, arguably positioned to play an important (perhaps even critical) role in helping to shape the global social and economic framework in the period ahead.
In the course of the years that have passed since the country’s first oil find, the portents for even more lavish returns have emerged from subsequent oil discoveries. As the prospects have grown, so too, has been the prognosis for the country positioning itself as a universal petro power and a key player in the global economy in the period ahead.
Global interest in Guyana’s perceived strategic significance, going forward, is manifested in what, these days, is a near complete transformation in the timbre of reportage in the international media from which the country has benefitted in recent years. That apart, Guyana, these days, has become a compulsory ‘pit stop’ from animated investment seekers, Georgetown having become a favoured destination for high-profile investment conferences that have attracted, among others, Heads of Government and significantly accomplished business moguls.
Towards the end of 2025 the country is expected to embark on a process which, historically, has ‘thrown up’ a succession of worrisome ‘banana skins’ general elections. Here, it is altogether unnecessary to chronicle the episodes of ugliness that have characterized the socio-political process in Guyana whenever the country has sought to choose a government.
This time around, one suspects, we are likely to have to endure a significantly enhanced level of international scrutiny to arrive at a definitive determination regarding the bona fides of the process. Put differently, both here in the Caribbean and in the rest of the international community, the process that attends the conduct of the country’s 2025 general elections could shape the country’s global image to a much greater extent than had been the case previously.
