The mission went empty-handed

Apr 29, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – It is said that when you fail to prepare, you must be prepared to fail. The President’s visit to the United Kingdom will go down as a monumental flop because of the lack of proper preparation.
This visit should have been spearheaded by the Foreign Ministry. Preliminary and preparatory meetings should have been undertaken so as to hammer out an agenda with the British government, rather than a mere courtesy call on the Prime Minister.
Guyana is set to become a global player in the oil and gas industry and an economic power in the Anglophone Caribbean. United Kingdom officials should have been tripping over themselves to meet with Guyana’s resident Foreign Ministry officials in the United Kingdom. The Queen should have been standing in line.
Strangely, the Foreign Minister was not part of the President’s delegation. This was an inexcusable blunder. On such a vital mission, even if the Foreign Minister was otherwise engaged at least some other senior Foreign Service official should have been included.
Britain has been an important foil against the threat of Venezuelan aggression. At the least, someone from the team working on Guyana’s case before the International Court of Justice should have comprised the President’s delegation.
But perhaps economic more than political issues were the central focus of the mission. That objective seems to have been reflected in the composition of the President’s delegation which we are told included the head of GOINVEST and the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
The mission went empty-handed. They did not take any investment-ready projects, and this accounts for the bored reaction of those in attendance at the feature investment forum which the President addressed.
When Guyana first struck oil, there was heightened interest by some of the major oil players, in the United Kingdom, over Guyana’s discoveries. But that interest has waned because the foreign multinationals have already sealed off most of the major opportunities in the oil and gas sector. Not much is left to entice large UK investors.
The investors in attendance at the main forum should have been canvassed so as to determine the specific areas of expertise and interest. The President would have then been in a position to woo them.
The President ought to have gone with investment-ready projects. Those businesspersons in attendance are not going to come to Guyana to explore options. They want to be told of specific projects into which they can sink their investments.
Guyana is a small economy. UK investors have no interest in the poultry and feedstock production sector nor are they going to come to invest in hotel accommodation given that major hotel chains already have plans to do so, and especially considering Guyana’s miniscule tourism market.
The President told investors that Guyana is looking for a major player in the tourism sector: A major player to do what? Build a hotel, establish a game park? If so, where is the project plan to attract this investment?
He spoke about certain things being low-hanging fruit. Well if it is low-hanging fruit why were these low-hanging fruit not seized by the local private sector? Does he really believe that drivel about investment in tourism being low risk? Ask those who have sunk millions into the tourism and hospitality sector whether they are turning a profit or if they foresee a profit in the near future.
Investors don’t go on hunches. They look at numbers and base their decisions on projections? Where are the tourism numbers which would allow for investments in the tourism sector? Where are the plans to develop a world-class tourism industry?
Investors are going to be courteous and nice to visiting Heads of State. But in the end, unless there is big money to be made, nobody is coming to a disordered country like Guyana where you build a major hotel and people are keeping parties on the beachfront.
And if you don’t have investment-ready projects then it is like talking to a wall. All you will hear is your own echo.
The President’s visit will not yield any major investments. In fact, it now needs to be questioned just what has materialised from his forays in the Middle East where he has also been talking-up investment opportunities.
How can the President be taken seriously when he goes to the United Kingdom and speaks about the opportunities which have to be had through British aid? Guyana is an oil rich country. We should not have to be now accepting or looking for opportunities in the form of aid.
Britain has exited the European Union (EU). The priority for Guyana should be to explore whether that country is interested in buying Guyana’s rice and sugar on better terms than the EU did. What really was the President selling? Illusions?
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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