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Local Content Policy…Guyana should consider ‘right to refusal’ of foreign suppliers in certain cases
– Former GCCI President
Former President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Deodat Indar, has suggested that Government should consider implementing the ‘right to refusal’ in its local content policy.
He spoke to this publication during an interview with Kaieteur Radio last Thursday, on Guyana’s Oil & You, a radio programme dedicated to educating the populace about the country’s budding Petroleum Sector.
Indar explained that Mexico and the US have already implemented some form of the principle in their jurisdictions. In the case of the US, Indar mentioned the Jones Act. That aspect of US Law regulates maritime commerce in the country. It requires goods shipped between US ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents.
Mexico also has strong local content demands for its local workers and businesses.
Former GCCI President, Deodat Indar
In Guyana’s case, Indar said that Government could consider refusing the provision of certain goods and services if there are already local bodies that have the capacity to provide them at an acceptable quality and in-keeping with industry standards.
“[We] need to consider, if we put that in – How would it help Guyanese?” Indar said.
He noted that since ExxonMobil’s first discovery in 2015, many local companies have sought to improve the quality of the service they provide.
Many of the services required in the sector can be done by Guyanese workers already, Indar posited. And for many of the jobs that locals can’t yet do, he said that they can simply be specialty trained in time.
While Guyana’s workers and businesses are inexperienced in areas like marine logistics and sub-sea operations, Indar said that they should put themselves in a position to amass some level of expertise a few years down the line.
“We have to start somewhere and start learning.” Indar said.
In addressing this proposed ‘right to refuse’ intervention, Indar reckoned that it’s different from the plans in the current draft policy.
Until now, he said, the idea has been to give local businesses and workers opportunities in the sector by granting them first consideration, instead of doing so by excluding foreign businesses altogether. But he thinks that, moving forward, Government should study whether the ‘right to refuse’ principle would be a feasible plan for Guyana.
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