‘New found oil wealth must benefit generations to come’ - Suriname President

‘New found oil wealth must benefit generations to come’ – Suriname President

Feb 16, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi has urged this country’s leaders to ensure that its new found oil wealth benefits all Guyanese and to secure for the future generations.

President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi

Santokhi was at the time addressing the opening of the four-day International Energy Conference and Expo, at the Marriott Hotel, which opened on Tuesday. He acknowledged that both Guyana and Suriname are on the path of development towards a sustainable economy that will make the transition from carbon-based energy to green energy.
President Santoki noted too that apart from the pandemic and global financial and development risks, the countries also face the impact of climate change as well as a looming global instability as a consequence of political conflict.
“All of this will have an impact on the energy generation demands and prices, so ladies and gentlemen, let us transition from one energy source to a cleaner and renewable one. We must consider how energy itself will transform our lives and our economies as we go forward,” he said.
Moreover, the Surinamese leader explained that he is certain that both Guyana and Suriname can aid in mitigating the global energy poverty, which he says makes it difficult for almost a billion people to develop productive livelihoods. To this end, he posited, “In charting this transition we must recognise that others have gone before us and have profited from the earned revenues to develop a more modern economy and create a future path of economic development where oil and gas may not play such a significant role anymore”.
“These fortunate countries have saved a major part of the revenues to be able to provide for generations to come. We have the same goal and commitment to our current and certainly, our future generations,” President Santokhi noted. But in addition to being able to provide for generations to come, the President urged too that the two countries be responsible in the development of the oil resources in an “environmentally-friendly and sound manner”.
He was keen to note, “human activities including fishing, shipping or the exploitation of marine resources are rapidly developing,” while pointing to the need for safe oil operations. Even as the Surinamese Head of State urges Guyana to save its oil resources, it must be noted that the government has already “raided” the Natural Resources Fund of $126B to supplement its recently approved Budget.