Guyana takes global stage ...

From page 11A go, Blinken travelled to Guyana for a bilateral meeting with President Ali and his Cabinet. He had disclosed that the US recognises Guyana's growing importance in tackling regional energy concerns and ensuring energy security.

“Our own Export-Import Bank is working closely with the Guyanese Government on a major gas-to-energy project that’s going to cut emissions by 50 per cent.

“American companies can bring unparalleled expertise, high labour, environmental standards and transparency to help power Guyana’s dynamic growth to advance regional energy security, to deliver tangible benefits to all people,” he said.

Additionally, in June, President Ali welcomed the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, to Guyana, where they discussed ways to improve bilateral ties between their two nations and reaffirmed their commitment to working together more closely in areas like energy, agriculture, tourism, trade, ICT, infrastructure, and industry.

President Ali had also embraced the Dominican Republic's private sector's strong interest in Guyana and both Heads of States anticipated Skycana's early start of commercial flights, which would provide for more opportunities for increased tourism and easier travel into and out of Guyana.

Meanwhile, bilateral trade between Guyana and India has witnessed a growth of over 300 per cent from 2021-2022 despite the effects of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, according to the President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu.

According to President Murmu, India places a great deal of value upon its relationship with Guyana.

“Guyana has been a homeland to Indian brothers and sisters for the last 180 years. Even though India and Guyana are separated geographically by a large distance, both have many aspects in common, such as a colonial past, predominantly agricultural and rural based economies, and multicultural societ- ies,” she related.

India’s President then placed emphasis on the need to significantly diversify bilateral trade and noted that a key tenet of India-Guyana relations is the development cooperation. She was pleased to learn that the country's ITEC programme has so far provided training to more than 640 Guyanese government workers.

Economy Booming

Apart from the decline in poverty, unemployment, among other issues, President Ali along with his Cabinet Ministers also placed a lot of emphasis on fulfilling the PPP’s manifesto promises, especially when it comes to providing Guyanese with a better quality of life.

Guyana also managed to make a name for itself and even stood out among its Latin American and Caribbean counterparts owing to massive economic growth, which, according to the World Bank, is projected to hover above 20 per cent over the next three years.

Even in the face of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the 2020 General and Regional Elections, when Guyanese saw the nation’s democracy at stake, with President Ali’s leadership, Guyana became resilient, even when the odds were stacked against the nation.

Guyana was recorded to be the only country on track to experiencing double-digit growth this year and in the near future. The World Bank had stated that Guyana is set to record real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 25.2 per cent this year, 21.2 per cent next year and 28.2 per cent in 2025.