THE NORWEGIANS WILL NOT RENEGE ON THEIR AGREEMENT WITH GUYANA

Sep 13, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the longest established conventions in international politics is that despite changes in government, most countries honour the agreements made by previous administrations with other countries. To do otherwise would be to hurt the international credibility and image of the country, and this can have terrible effects on how other nations relate to that country.
A country’s word is its honour, and regardless if that word was given by a previous administration, there is an acceptance that only because of serious reasons should international or bilateral agreements be overturned.
Recently there were elections in Norway. That country has a partnership agreement with Guyana in which Norway has agreed to provide substantial funding to Guyana in return for certain commitments relating to the environment. This agreement has long been recognized as being advantageous to both countries, but particularly so to Norway, who at the time of the signing was seeking to bolster its environmental footprint in the wake of an impending major climate change conference in Copenhagen, and in light of serious criticisms of its own domestic environmental record.
Norway is a major oil-producing nation with perhaps the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Many years ago, Guyana learnt about these sovereign wealth funds and decided to target them. These funds can be used for investments overseas, and the Guyana government at the time had decided that there was the possibility of these funds being invested in Guyana. As such, a one-man diplomacy was launched to seek access to these funds, but nothing materialized from these excursions.
Guyana did, however, manage to secure an agreement with Norway in which that country would provide about US$50M per year to this country, a relatively significant investment which unfortunately has been hobbled by the mechanism that has been instituted to disburse the funds.
There have been concerns expressed that with a conservative party leading a coalition government in Norway, this could have implications for the agreement between that country and Guyana. The worry is unwarranted; firstly because the funds being provided to Guyana are not the subject of the massive sovereign wealth fund that is held by Norway, but more importantly, international countries do not operate that way. If bilateral agreements could be reneged every time a country changes government, it could pose serious problems for international cooperation between states.
There should therefore be no worry about the change of government in Norway. It is true that there is likely now that there is a conservative-led coalition government in place in that country for greater attention to be paid to domestic issues.
Indeed there is already talk that Norway may split its sovereign wealth fund into two parts, one of which would be to allow some portion of the proceeds to be invested in infrastructural development. This, however, will not affect Norway’s international agreements and there should be little worry about any such possibility. Such worry is misplaced, as is the worry over an anti-immigration backlash in Norway.
Norway has a significant immigrant population, and thus it is not easy for any new government to attempt the sort of policies in Norway that were being promoted by the outgoing government in Australia to discourage illegal migration.
Norway is not a model nation by any means. As events last year revealed, there remain serious problems. Guyana, however, should attempt to deepen its relations with that country, since the welfare model of most Scandinavian countries is one that should be examined more closely to see how they can be adapted to this country’s own needs.
A United Nations World Happiness Index Report ranks Scandinavian countries as having the “happiest” people in the world. This is as a direct consequence of the welfare states of these countries. Norway is ranked second to Denmark, and is followed by Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden and Canada, all considered states with good welfare systems.
Why with such a contented population would Norway then wish to renege on an agreement with a foreign country? It is not a nation in financial crisis. So, why do this when there is no shortage of funds?
Guyana should not worry about Norway reneging on the agreement that really represents the only thing of substance that Guyana has to show under the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

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THE NORWEGIANS WILL NOT RENEGE ON THEIR AGREEMENT WITH GUYANA

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