Guyana’s Ali announces plans to position country as regional leader in climate change, food and energy security by 2030
Shemar-Leslie Louisy / Our Today
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali announced plans for increased focus in the country’s youth, agriculture, science and technology industries, with intent to further diversify the economy in aiming to become a global leader on climate change, food security and energy security by 2030.
Speaking at the Agri Investment Forum and Expo 2023, Ali touched upon an array of topics but emphasised his commitment to training the youth of Guyana and the wider CARICOM and creating a sustainable environment for the country.
Ali mentioned the positive feedback the country is receiving on its policies and dealings surrounding the management of its oil and gas resources, while highlighting that the newfound global interest requires the country to demonstrate more responsibility in everything going forward.
“Although we are newcomers, our innovative approach to this sector is creating positive headlines across the world. The investment matrix that we are using to propel growth and development is being talked about to the extent that our country, in the next 12 months, will be hosting some of the most exceptional events right here in Guyana. These things do not happen by accident. They happen because the world is looking at us from a different perspective,” he said.
The world is examining not only Guyana’s opportunities but also Guyana’s leadership and its ability to make a meaningful change in the lives of people across the world. That is why we have committed to a very important task, and we are very humble about it. The task we have committed ourselves to is to position Guyana in a world 2030 and beyond as a global leader on climate change, food security, and energy security.
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali
Ali continued, “Before I left Ottawa, we had many discourses, and one of the things that you will see very soon is work towards the building of a platform in the innovative realm of things. We are going to launch a programme where we want to have at least 3,000 of our young people in innovative jobs in the coming years, and Canada and Guyana will partner in developing the framework to provide the training to have our young people in these innovative jobs in the technological field.”
The Guyanese leader mentioned that an agreement was made in Costa Rica between the his country’s government and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), for members of CARICOM to be trained at the institute’s Innovation Centre and its Centre of Excellence. He also revealed that the government and the institute will be developing a centre of excellence for the region by transforming the Guyana School of Agriculture to the IICA Centre of Excellence for Studies in the Field of Agriculture, focusing on innovation and resilience.
Ali added that in the coming months, together with IICA, the government will be developing a CARICOM Situation Room that will give real-time data to farmers to allow evidence-based decision-making and more proactive planning in terms of crop development and growth.
When contacted by Our Today, IICA Jamaica did not respond to a request to confirm if Jamaica will be participating in the training exercise in Costa Rica.
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