Caricom should bet on itself.
This was a common rallying call over the opening days of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo.
On the opening day, both Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Guyana President Dr Irfaan Ali stressed that collaboration within the region was essential.
On day two, the common theme was continued with both Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young and Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat stressing that reinvestment in the region’s resources would prove crucial for Caricom to push forward.
Minister Bharrat, in particular, noted that the region was very resource-rich in areas the first world currently yearned.
He explained that despite Guyana’s development as an energy sector player in recent years, the country would not neglect the roots of its economy.
“Over 25,000 Guyanese are directly or indirectly employed in the forestry sector,” said Bharrat, during his presentation on day two of the energy conference on Tuesday, “We intend to continue the exploration and production of our natural resources in a responsible and sustainable manner. Because most of the employment created in these sectors will not be matched by the oil and gas sector even when we achieve 1.5 million barrels a day in about another four to five years. The oil and gas sector still will not employ as many people as are employed in the agricultural sector or the forestry sector or the mining sector of Guyana and that is why it is so critical.”
He added, “We have adopted a model where we are continuing to use revenue from the oil and gas sector to incentivise and to grow the other sectors that our economies have been built on for decades since we gained Independence.”
Such investments, he added, would also be beneficial to the region’s food security push, as the development of Guyana’s agriculture sector was seen as a major driver of Caricom’s 25 by 2025 initiative which is geared toward significantly reducing the region’s food import bill.
Bharrat explained that despite the region’s resources, the First World still largely attempted to dictate terms to the region. This, in particular, is showcased in the imbalance about the calls for energy transitions. He explained that in many cases Caricom states were not the major culprits in terms of climate change, with Guyana itself being one of the few countries in the world currently listed as carbon-negative. Yet the region was among the most pressured to make adjustments.
He explained that this pressure was intensified, because like much of the world, the region did not have the necessary capital, in this case US$14 billion immediately available to make the transition demanded.
“It must be an equitable energy transition for the Caricom states,” said Bharrat.
However, Minister Bharrat felt the region could show the rest of the world the way, as it currently housed two of the largest forested countries in the world in Guyana and Suriname, with another Caricom state, Belize also boasting significant forestry.
“Caricom can become a leader or becoming a shining example in showing how we can balance the development of our nation with the preservation of our environment, and we believe that is what is necessary in our discussion. We cannot be at either extreme end,” said Bharrat.
In his address, shortly after Bharrat left the podium, T&T’s Energy Minister Young also addressed the unfair demands made on the Caribbean in the wake of climate change concerns.
“The whole of Latin America, and the Caricom region contribute less than 3 per cent of global emissions. But once again, we’re on the cusp of certain developed countries taking positions that will affect our utilisation of our natural resources. As a place, for example, carbon tax on the products coming from our region, make it more difficult and less competitive. Climate change we are well aware of because again, ironically, our small island states face on an annual basis, the direct effects of this global climate change. We have seen in the last few years significantly changed weather patterns. Our islands face the scourge of hurricanes that can wipe out a whole country’s GDP, as happened in our sister country Dominica, a few years ago and then the struggle to get back up,” said Young, who used this point the reaffirm the common rallying call.
“We need to collaborate at this stage and take the responsibility,” said Minister Young,
“I’ve listened for the last few days, and even before this, to the conversations about energy security and fueling transformation and modernisation. Right now in Caricom, many of our island states are facing the dilemma of what to do with the electricity grid, as they’ve reached that aged position where we now need to take decisions and there is this push towards renewables,” said Young, who like Bharrat, noted the US$14 billion figure was out of reach of the region.
“Put quite simply, that is not realistic, because when you look at the financial feasibility and the bankability of changing the grids, moving to renewables, it simply isn’t there on population size, on island space size, etc,” he said.
Young added that Tobago itself boasted the longest standing forest reserve in the Western hemisphere.
“Sixty per cent of the island is under forests. We have a teak plantation where teak is being regenerated but we don’t hear that as part of the conversation when the pressure is being put on us. So it comes now to the issue of collaboration. If we collaborate together, if we share information, if we share experiences it can strengthen not only our voice but it can strengthen our positions as we operate in a very dynamic, very sophisticated world that is the world of energy,” said Young.
This collaboration he stressed could particularly help Guyana in its bid to grow its energy sector and by proxy speed up its reinvestment in itself and the region.
“How long would it take the people who own those resources to get the returns of the revenues from it? Don’t you have to offer tax holidays, don’t you have to offer moratoriums? Don’t you have to offer incentives for the expenditure of those billions? Don’t you then have to put down the type of infrastructure for the shipping of it out etc. and the recurrent cost as opposed to if we were to collaborate for example right there in Trinidad. There is an existing plug-in; send your gas resources and you receive the return immediately,” said Young.
The Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo ended on Thursday.