Guyana tells US it will help secure CARICOM energy needs

Apr 24, 2021 News

---

…as Joe Biden rekindles hope for Obama’s regional renewable energy plan

“…no nation can solve this crisis on their own; those who invest in a clean energy future will win the good jobs of tomorrow and make their economies more resilient and more competitive, let’s run that risk” US President, Joseph Biden

Kaieteur News – Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United States Government have agreed on the need to work together on a number of issues of mutual interest, with Guyana promising to help drive the regional energy security agenda.

The agreement was had on Wednesday last, when the CARICOM Foreign Affairs Ministers met with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, for a virtual Roundtable Discussion—as an initial engagement between the Joe Biden led administration and CARICOM.
Accordingly, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugh Todd, told the meeting that the three oil-producing CARICOM members – Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname – “can help in driving the regional energy security agenda.”
CARICOM Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque, in his remarks to the gathering—at the onset—praised the resumption of high-level meetings as he said, “I hope today’s session is the start of a renewal of such encounters.”
US-CARICOM co-operation, he recognised, has previously addressed matters such as trade and investment, security, health, energy, disaster management and climate change.
Current US President, Joe Biden, who took office in January, served as Barack Obama’s Vice President.
One of Obama’s-era project that was abandoned by the Trump administration was designed to enhance Caribbean energy security, by expanding the use of Natural gas and renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro for power generation to replace oil.
The project was grounded in the then-imminent start-up of US Liquefied Natural Gas exports and a new US$1 billion fund, set up by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help countries convert power plants from oil-to-gas.
Guyana is actively pursuing the landing of a gas pipeline from its Stabroek Block oilfields to power a gas plant for electricity.
The US-CARICOM meeting was held a day before the US President hosted a Leaders’ Summit and committed his country to some of the most ambitious, climate friendly, energy goals.
According to Biden, the US$2.2 trillion infrastructure and energy plan is meant to tap into the economic opportunities presented by climate change, as such, “I want to build critical infrastructure to produce and deploy clean technology, both those we can harness today and those that will invent tomorrow.”
He underscored that “the science is undeniable and the cost of inaction keeps mounting; the United States isn’t waiting, we are resolving to take action.”
Pressing the US’s position on renewable energy, President Biden told world leaders that under his new plan, “I see workers capping hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells that need to be cleaned up and abandoned coal mines that need to be reclaimed putting a stop to the methane leaks and protecting the health of our communities.”
Additionally, “I see auto workers building the next generation of electric vehicles; I see the engineers and the construction workers building new carbon capture and green hydrogen plants, to forge cleaner steel and cement and produce clean power.”
He was adamant, “by maintaining those investments, (and) putting these people to work, the United States sets out on a road to cut the greenhouse gases in half by the end of this decade; these steps will set America on a path to net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.”
The US President conceded however, “the truth is, America represents less than 15 percent of the world emissions; no nation can solve this crisis on their own; all of us, particularly those who represent the world’s largest economy we have to step up.”
As such, President Biden exhorted, “those who invest in a clean energy future will win the good jobs of tomorrow and make their economies more resilient and more competitive, let’s run that risk.”
According to Biden, “this is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst crisis.”
The talks on Wednesday between the US Government and the CARICOM bloc of nations, ended months of division among the 15-member grouping over the former US administration’s campaign to isolate the government of Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro.
This publication understands that there was “brief mention” of Guyana’s border controversy with Venezuela that is being adjudicated by the UN’s court—the International Court of Justice, according to Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Todd.
Additionally, the discussions at the meeting focused broadly around the Covid-19 pandemic and its health and economic fallout, recovery of the regional economy, climate change and democracy, human rights and security.
The CARICOM Ministers as such, took the opportunity to urge the US to assist with access to much needed vaccines, which was an imperative for the region to emerge from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
Secretary of State, Blinken, in his remarks, stressed his determination to strengthen cooperation and co-ordination and stated, that he would engage with his colleague US Cabinet Secretaries on the issues of mutual interest raised by the CARICOM Ministers.

---

---