GUYANA

Guyana's Secrets Exposed

Guyana is a little known country, often confused for countries somewhere in Africa. The truth is it is right here in our Western Hemisphere, sitting squarely on the northeastern coast of South America. It is bordered by Venezuela to the west, Brazil on the south and Southwest and Suriname to the east. In a sense, it can be considered as the gateway to the northwestern part of Brazil, the entrance to the vast Amazon Basin. It is unique, in that it is the only English speaking country in South America. This is one of the reasons that accounts for its closeness with the islands of the Caribbean. In fact, the headquarters of the Caribbean Community Organization (CARICOM), its Secretariat is located in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana.

 

 

Market Access

Guyana’s membership in CARICOM provides it with duty free access to 14 other member countries, which are Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. In addition to access to the CARICOM markets, Guyana benefits from a number of bilateral agreements between CARICOM and Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. These agreements provide a range of duty free and preferential markets access, with varying levels of reciprocity. In addition, Brazil and Venezuela have signed partial scope agreements access for selected products.

Guyana also enjoys preferential duty free or reduced duty to major developed economies. These include,

 

The US, Caribbean Trade Partnership (CTP), formerly the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), which as a result of an agreement, extends NAFTA Party” to Caribbean Countries;

CARIBCAN, which grants duty free access to Canada, with some exceptions;

The E.U.’s African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trade and aid agreement, which provides preferential treatment to the regions sugar banana, rum and rice suppliers. While the value of this preferential access has diminished as a result of the changes in EU trade policy, this trade partnership nevertheless remains important.

 

 

Beyond these regional trade agreements, Guyana is a member of the WTO, and benefits from the market access rights and most favored nation status thereof. Guyana also has bilateral trade agreements with various preferential regimes with Argentina, People’s Republic of China and Turkey. Negotiations with other countries are under way for agreements on trade and economic cooperation.

 

 

International Investment

 

The Russian company RUSAL, the world's largest aluminum company, has bauxite operations in Guyana.

China's Bosai Minerals, already with extensive bauxite operations in Guyana is considering an additional billion dollar investment to build an aluminum oxide plant.

Until recently, Cambior Inc a Canadian company operated South America's largest gold mine at Omai, Guyana.

Guyana subscribes to the Kimberly Process. It's diamonds are clean

Guyana and Suriname plan to invest a combined $60 million in an undersea fiber optic cable to improve phone and Internet service.
The 746-mile (1,200-kilometer) cable will run north through Trinidad to Florida.

Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. Salem, Massachusetts, last year, announced plans to build a separate $35 million cable linking Guyana and Trinidad.

Guyana has a bright oil and gas future. International corporations-lured by the prospect of an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil and gas deposits on its northern and eastern coasts (US Geological Survey)-are vying for drilling rights. These include CGX Energy Inc, Canada and the Spanish-Argentine company, Repsol YPF. ExxonMobil plans to explore 21,000sq miles for oil and gas. Also, in the southwestern part of the country, Groundstar Resources, Canada is exploring for oil in the Takutu Basin.

There are several sites in Guyana that are suitable for hydro power development. Synergy Holdings, a US based Guyanese-American business plans to break ground during the first quarter of 2009 for the construction of a 154 MT hydroelectric power plant at Amelia Falls.

Recently, Guyana awarded 1 million acres of forest for timber exploration to Simon & Shock International, South Haven, Michigan. The company also intends building one of the world’s most advanced large-scale hardwood sawmills in Linden, Guyana.

 

 

Infrastructure

“Guyana” means “Land of many waters. The country is trisected by large rivers that drain the Amazon Basin into the Atlantic Ocean. The mouth of Guyana's largest river, at 26 miles, is wider than the English Channel. These rivers present special challenges and opportunities for development.

 

In December 2008, a 1.5 kilometer bridge over the Berbice River was commissioned. Earlier this year, the Takutu River Bridge was completed to create the first physical infrastructural linkage between Guyana and its southern neighbor, Brazil. In prospect is the development of an upgraded road linkage from the Brazil border to a new deep water harbor that is contemplated for Guyana's Atlantic coast. At least 40 smaller bridges will have to be upgraded along the new route. When these projects are completed Guyana will provide an alternate 'gateway' from the Atlantic to the Brazilian city of Manaus on the Amazon River.

 

Under the aegis of the Integration of Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA), all 12 South American countries are committed to a program of infrastructure development to facilitate integration. A road along the northern coast of Guyana into Venezuela has been approved by IIRSA. These infrastructure initiatives offer opportunities for developers, financiers and entrepreneurs in a variety of sectors: Mining, Energy, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Seafood, Livestock, Forestry, Tourism, ICT, Health and Social Services.

 

Iwokrama

Guyana's forests are larger than England. It is part of the Amazon Basin of South America. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. However, tropical forests are disappearing rapidly. Their loss will cause the extinction of half the planet's animal and plant species and unknown changes to global climate. The Iwokrama Forest was established as a living laboratory for sustainable tropical forest management. The Iwokrama Forest is nearly 3710 square kilometres (1430 mile²) of central Guyana located in the heart of the Guiana Shield, one of the four last pristine tropical forests in the world, (Congo, New Guinea, and Amazonia being the others). It represents an important transition zone in rainfall, landforms, human histories and biological communities.

 

The Iwokrama Forest, a area larger than the State of Rhode Island or all of Long Island, New York, boasts an assortment of endangered animals including the world's largest alligator (the Black Caiman), the world largest scaled freshwater fish (Arapaima), the world's largest snake (Anaconda), the world's highest numbers of fish (420) and bat species (90) for any area this size, the world's largest otter (the Giant Otter), and South America's largest cat (the Jaguar), among a variety of flora and fauna.

 

Opportunities for Eco-tourism operators abound as well as for scientists and businesses that are interested in participating in relevant issues associated with biodiversity research in a complex ecological system.

Iwokrama Forest alone is estimated to hold close to 120 million tons of carbon, equal to the annual carbon footprint of the United Kingdom (UK). With the Iwokrama Forest reserve as a model of what can be done nationally, the Government of Guyana proposes to trade the preservation of its remaining forests to the international community or organization that seeks to acquire carbon credits. The proposal is believed to be the largest carbon offset ever by turning Guyana into a vast carbon sink.

 

Nexus
The application of entrepreneurial imagination, engineering and creative finance will help Guyana to exploit its potential. Opportunities abound for various forms of United States -Guyana collaboration in business, health, education, tourism and other areas.

 

The United States of America is the world's largest single market and the repository of appropriate and leading technologies, management and finance. Therein lies many opportunities.