Norton to lead Opposition delegation to U.S. for talks on oil wealth

Sep 23, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

Kaieteur News – Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton is expected to lead a delegation of Members of Parliament (MPs) from his side of the political divide to Washington D.C, United Sates (U.S.) for talks with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on how all Guyanese can benefit from the country’s oil wealth.

In a brief statement to the media on Friday, the Opposition said the meeting with Jeffries is expected to take place on September 27, 2023. It added, “The meeting with House Speaker Jeffries and his team is expected to focus on the opportunities and challenges confronting Guyana and on how political stakeholders in the country can work together to ensure that all Guyanese citizens, regardless of race or ethnicity, benefit from the country’s oil wealth.”

Accompanying the Opposition Leader will be elected representatives, including General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), Dawn Hastings, PNC/R Executive Members and Shadow Local Government Minister, Ganesh Mahipaul; Shadow Attorney General, Roysdale Forde; Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amanza Walton-Desir, MP Nima Flue Bess; Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Party and MP, Catherine Hughes, Shadow Minister of Public Works, David Patterson; AFC MP, Deonarine Ramsaroop and Leader of Guyana Action Party (GAP), Vincent Henry.

Only on September 14, the U.S. Democratic Minority Leader, Hakeem Jefferies and other congress officials raised the issue of “full economic participation and civic engagement” of Indo and Afro-Guyanese during a meeting with President Irfaan Ali in Washington.

The U.S. Congressman said in a statement on Saturday that other leading congressional officials “with expertise in foreign affairs, finance, security, and other critical issues to the Western Hemisphere and the Caribbean-American community in Brooklyn and across the United States also participated” in the meeting with the Guyanese leader and his team of government officials.

Jefferies, the highest-ranking democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said both parties discussed several “critical issues, including regional and energy security, the climate crisis, and the importance of an inclusive society in Guyana that involved full economic participation and civic engagement by Guyanese-Africans and Guyanese-Indians.”

He said other issues including electoral reform, strengthening democratic institutions and the need to bolster access to banking and financial services in the Caribbean region were discussed at the meeting.

President Ali’s team included Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd, Minister of Tourism; Industry, and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond; and Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud.

In the past, Jefferies has made several comments about the issue of racism and economic equality in Guyana.

He said the U.S. will continue to encourage the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government and the opposition to work together to ensure that all Guyanese citizens, regardless of race or ethnicity, benefit from the economic growth underway in the South American nation.

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and Commerce, Hugh Todd, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Tourism, ndustry, Oneidge Walrond

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