Changing – Foreign & Domestic Policies

Nov 09, 2008 Peeping Tom

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Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Chairman, Vision Guyana

INTRODUCTION:

One of the weakest links in our system is the lack of a foreign policy agenda which in turn affects the development of our nation. Guyana’s elected leaders need to discuss and formulate a plan as to its relationship with the Global Community of Nations.

We must focus on countries which can best become a partner with Economic, Industrial, Social, Infrastructural, and Financial assistance.

This week America chose a new President, Barack Obama. It was a historical moment and has inspired millions that they too can dream.

Historically, a Democrat in the White House has not focused on developmental programs in countries like Guyana. Most monies are put back into domestic social programs and this will most likely be the case during an Obama Presidency.

During the Clinton (Democrat) tenure, many large companies outsourced jobs to countries like India because of the hefty taxes on medium and large businesses.

Obama’s plan once again preaches this method. Maybe this time around we can try to attract some of those jobs to our country if we streamline the way the government operates when it comes to new investment.

Either way, we must forge a new relationship with the U.S. administration and lobby for improved trade agreements. As our foreign policy is non-existent, this new goal opens the door for what it should be over the next few years.

I would suggest that as President-Elect Obama gets his country in order, we here in Guyana ought to be glad we had to sign the EPA. Our domestic policies on development require major attention.

We must also focus on our immediate neighbours. Over the years, we have not been able to forge any major relationship with any of our immediate neighbours. Two have claims on our land and one we have ignored for no reason at all except for talk every now and then about the road to Brazil and the Takutu Bridge.

WHAT ABOUT OUR NEIGHBOURS?

1. Brazil: I believe in forging stronger ties with Brazil for both development and trade. As one of the top ten largest economies in the world, and a neighbour, I would like to posit that we create bilateral policies and programmes instead of tapping into the usual resources of the ABCs (America, Britain and Canada).

I have written about the benefits of this and would be a major pillar in a new Guyana administration in 2011.
The fact is that Brazil exports over $100 billon of its agriculture products to North America and we need to see where we can feed that system. Northern Brazil desperately needs our waterways.

2. Venezuela: Hydro power needs to be a point of discussion between Guyana and Venezuela given the common position of a serious lack of reliable electricity supply. Chavez is a dictator and anti private sector, so there is not much more we can hope for with Venezuela.

I am persuaded, though, that preceding any discussion with this neighbour, all claims to our land must be immediately dropped. Then as the sovereign nation we are, concession should be given to large oil companies to drill in that area.

Why are we so sissy in that policy? Let’s test them; if they try to publicly come across our borders, it becomes an international issue and then maybe we can again attempt to get this claim resolved.

I am not opposed to talking to Chavez on a joint oil development project but we must solve this claim on our land once and for all. Eastern Venezuela also desperately needs our waterways.

3. Suriname: Suriname continues to prove that our defences are weak and it is their way of paying us back for winning a disputed claim and our potential success for oil.

They continue to embarrass us and we continue to fail to respond; instead, we act like diplomatic infants while Suriname continues its bullyism. Once we respond appropriately, we can also attempt joint oil development with this country.

Additionally, Guyana, rather than maximize its efforts for loans and financial aids from rich countries, should expend its efforts on developing strong economic relationships with globally successful countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai – United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, and China.

DOMESTIC POLICY CHANGES:

Hogg Island: I have discussed the development of Hogg Island on many occasions. We can develop our own Barbados in Guyana. Imagine an island that can house thousands of Guyanese who may want to return to a more secure environment.

Imagine the deep water harbour ports that can be a shipbuilding yard with a deep water harbour. How many of us may want to move to Hogg Island instead of Barbados if we put in the right modern infrastructure.

The Hogg Island Deep Water Harbour will function as an Export Processing Zone where domestic taxes and other obligations are minimized, thus encouraging private investment in small, medium and large enterprises.

Tourism can benefit from such a move. We have over 300 islands in our country and most of them are larger than most Caribbean islands we associate with and are sometimes ejected from.

Lethem: With the bridge between Brazil and Guyana completed, we should move beyond the sporadic Ministers’ visit for the odd photo opportunity.

We should instead concentrate on partnership industries with Brazil, such as Ethanol production that we have emphasized for over four years. This area can be an export free zone similar to Boa Vista on the Brazilian side.

Agriculture: We need to stop being so scatter brained and concentrate on a few products to develop on a large scale. Peppers are in demand around the world. We cannot even accommodate the local market.

The emphasis should not just be about growing more food, but focusing on creating strategic development of new products and solving our logistics nightmare.

CONCLUSION:

We must work together today to make these changes to our domestic and foreign policy. Yes the question of financing does arise. This can be done via the utilization of strategies known as Build-Operate-Transfer (BOPT), Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) and Build-Own-Operate (BOO).

These mechanisms have been used with great success in Asia (especially in the “Asian Tigers”: Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia) and more recently in Latin America, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.

Nov 4 we saw a dream come true. In the ever-present debate between “realists” and “dreamers,” we often find that the “dreamers” are actually the more realistic of the two.

That is because “realism” is often pessimism disguised and pessimism validates its own dark predictions by keeping us from striving forward. “Dreamers,” on the other hand, create their dream by striving for it even when circumstances seem bleak.

Therefore, believe that the “dreams” described in this column are truly realistic goals—when we dare to envision and actualize them. Until next time “Roop”

Send responses to [email protected] and www.visionguyana.com

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