Guyana, Islamic Development Bank explore means for cooperation

Oct 20, 2016 News

Guyana and a high level delegation from the Islamic Development Bank recently explored and reviewed ways and means both parties can develop strong and more robust economic development cooperation.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

This is according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Jordan said that the Government was pleased to welcome the Vice President and other members of the Delegation of the Islamic Development Bank, on their inaugural visit to Guyana.
The Finance Minister said that the parties recently engaged each other in constructive and fruitful deliberations, at both the political and technical levels.
Jordan said that the Ministry of Finance is the principal interlocutor between Guyana and all of the nation’s multilateral development partners, especially with regards to the mobilization of resources for financing national development.
“We are therefore excited to add the Islamic Development Bank to our financial window of opportunities. We believe that there is much to be gained and mutual benefits to be derived from our fledgling, but very important, relationship.”
He reminded that within the last few months, Guyana acceded to Membership of the Bank, having become a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), in 1998, a prerequisite for joining the Bank.
“I was proud to be my country’s first accredited Governor to the Board of the Bank and being able to attend the Bank’s 41st Annual General Meeting, in Jakarta, Indonesia, in May this year, to witness and participate in the induction ceremony, as Guyana became the 57th member and second South American country, after Suriname, to be admitted to membership of the Bank,” the Finance Minister expressed.
Jordan said that Guyana’s full-fledged membership to the Islamic Development Bank is a clear signal of Government’s endeavours to forge new partnerships with non-traditional development financial institutions.
He said that the Ministry of Finance Ministry looks forward to the Bank becoming a fundamental partner in supporting Guyana’s development agenda.
Since gaining membership to the Bank, Guyana has acceded to the Articles of Agreement by participating in the capital stock of the Bank.
The Finance Minister said that to date, Guyana has made two monetary installments of subscription. He said that the Government is grateful to the Bank for allowing the nation to complete the payments of its subscription over 20 years, instead of the traditional five years.
The Finance Minister said that attaining membership of the Bank has come at a time when Guyana has been graduated to upper middle income status, making access to concessionary resources increasingly difficult.
“We, therefore, see our opportune membership to the Bank as affording Guyana an alternative source of concessional resources, including grants and interest free loans, which would further propel Guyana’s strategic development trajectory through to 2020 and beyond,” Jordan said.
He added, “This will greatly assist in the financing of major catalytic projects in Guyana, which will help to attain the ‘good life’ and redound to the benefit of all our citizens.”
Jordan said that the Finance Ministry has noted that the areas of interest of the Bank include human development, rural development and food safety, infrastructural development, trade among member countries and private sector development.
He said that these are consistent with the priorities the Government has set for itself and are contained in a document specially prepared for the delegation.