Latest update June 13th, 2026 12:40 AM
Guyana prepares for Norway’s fourth payment
The Guyana Government via its Natural Resources Ministry is preparing to collect US$35M;
Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Birkett and President Donald Ramotar sit right while, NRM Robert Persaud sits left with Norwegian delegation
the fourth payment to be received from Norway under the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF). According to the Ministry, Guyana has so far collected US$150M of the agreed US$250 million to bne disbursed over five years.
Guyana’s end of the bargain is to maintain good forest conditions in the fight against global warming and maintain the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). A team of Norwegian officials visited the country last week ahead of the payment.
The high level Norwegian delegation met with President Donald Ramotar, Minister Robert Persaud; Minister of Finance, DrAshni Singh; Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; and officials from the Office of the President.
Discussions were also held with Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier rtd. David Granger and members of his shadow Cabinet. The Norwegians also made a field trip to the Cunha Canal and Santa Mission Amerindian Village
“This visit comes shortly after the formal announcement by the Governments of Guyana and Norway on the release of the fourth payment under the partnership, which saw US$35M being approved for payment into the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF). Guyana has earned $150 million under the partnership thus far,” the Natural Resources Minister said.
The meeting between the delegation and Minister Persaud saw a number of priority areas on natural resources management being discussed. This included the continued “advancement of work under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI); continued work on REDD+ and the Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS), and information sharing and access on relevant areas, including concession and license issuance.”
The Minister also presented the Norwegian delegation with the Pre Inception Report on EITI and expressed the continued commitment to further advance Guyana’s work on EITI.
The recently held meeting also saw the government representative disclosing future strides to develop the Natural Resources and Environmental sector. He spoke of finalizing “strategic plans” for the sector.
Minister Persaud explained the importance of taking a multi stakeholder approach to sector development initiatives; and in this regard, outlined the integral role of the Ministry’s cooperation with the private sector.
He identified key priorities, such as the improvement of technology and mining practices, as important to assisting miners with shifting away from the use of mercury and to improve the recovery efficiency of mining operations.
He alluded to increasing uptake by industry adoption of new technologies, such as centrifuge systems, which can increase recovery rates in mines from 30 percent to 80percent compared to traditional mining practices.
Mining officials have for some time been seeking higher levels of recovery and a cleaner recovery in the sector. The thrust of this effort, they explained, is for not only cleaner initiatives across the industry, but also as adherence to the Low Carbon Development Strategy assumes importance in the sector.
The GRIF was established in October 2010, with the World Bank as Trustee, following an agreement signed between Guyana and Norway in November 2009. Norway has agreed to provide Guyana with up to US$250 million by 2015 in performance-based payments for avoided deforestation in support of Guyana’s LCDS.
(Zena Henry)
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