President Luis Abinader and visiting President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana signed six agreements at the Presidential Palace. The agreements seek to benefit energy and food security in the countries and the region. Both leaders expressed their commitment to pursuing greater collaboration, particularly in the areas of energy, agriculture, tourism, trade, ICT, infrastructure, and industry.
The agreements focus on energy, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, security and industry. The agreements include the construction of an oil refinery and petrochemical plant, exploiting oil, and joint production of farm products.
President Abinader called the agreements historic and unprecedented for regional collaboration in the Caribbean.
Abinader explained the parties seek to contract a company to build an oil refinery in Guyana that is able to produce 50,000-barrel-per-day. The petrochemical industry would produce urea for farms. The participation of the DR would be more than 51%, including possible private sector participation in these projects.
The agreements call for a government-to-government exploitation of an oil block with the same conditions offered to international private companies.
The food security project is to plant corn and soya in Guyana to guarantee food security for both countries.
The Dominican Republic would contribute its experience in tourism so that Guyana can develop its eco-touristic potential, especially its forests and Amazon River areas.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations highlights the wealth of Guyana in oil stocks, including natural gas and gold reserves.
“We think that we can also collaborate, with the empathy that we have made from the government. Since I met President Irfaan Ali, I could see in him enormous leadership, not only for Guyana, but for the entire region, with a leadership in Caricom. We empathized and were able to determine how both countries could complement each other,” said President Luis Abinader.
Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali expressed that the leadership of President Abinader is enormous and he spoke of opportunities for the expansion of these agreements between the two countries.
Irfaan Ali assured that the memorandums of understanding will contribute to a good positioning of both countries, demonstrating a collective decision and facing the crisis that the region and the world are experiencing today.
The Guyanese president specified that the collaboration is not to be limited to the areas that have been established with the memorandums of understanding. He said the working group will be analyzing other aspects where they can collaborate, especially given the fact that they are operating in a new world where digitization, artificial intelligence play a fundamental role.
The MOUs
A Memorandum of Understanding to improve bilateral investment relations was signed between the director of ProDominicana, Biviana Riveiro, and the executive director of the Guyana Investment Office, Peter Ramsaroop. Its objective is to facilitate foreign direct investment by providing practical investment information to companies, recognizing that both the Dominican Republic and Guyana are open to foreign investment.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Tourism was signed by the Dominican Minister of Tourism, David Collado and the Minister of Tourism and Trade of Guyana, Oneidge Walrond. It establishes that the parties will promote the development of tourism cooperation between them for mutual benefit.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Relations Roberto Álvarez and the Minister of Tourism and Trade of Guyana, Oneidge Walrond, signed the four remaining Memoranda of Understanding.
The first of these was the Memorandum of Understanding between the government of the Guyana and the government of the Dominican Republic to study the possibility of the Dominican Republic participating in the exploration of a Guyanese oil block. The agreement sets the base for cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Guyana in the possible participation in the exploration of an oil block by the Dominican Republic. Both parties agree to jointly explore and evaluate the feasibility of this initiative.
The second Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a petrochemical plant with the participation of both states. Both parties agree to work together to identify and evaluate opportunities for the implementation of this project, taking into account the technical, economic, legal, social and environmental aspects involved, within the legal and public policy framework of Guyana.
The Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of an oil refinery seeks joint efforts to establish an oil refinery with the collaboration of both states. Both parties agree to work to identify and evaluate opportunities for the implementation of this project, taking into account the technical, economic, social, legal and environmental aspects involved, within Guyana’s legal and public policy framework.
The Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a joint production of corn, soybeans, other agricultural products and the cooperation and promotion of the poultry sector seeks to establish the bases for cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Guyana in joint production, mainly corn and soybeans, as well as other agricultural products including sugar, coconut and spices, among others.
Additionally, cooperation will extend to the poultry industry, where both countries will seek to stimulate and complement poultry production and the value chains between them. Both parties agree to make the greatest efforts to implement joint agricultural projects that promote more efficient and sustainable production of these agricultural products.
Read more:
Presidency
Ministry of Foreign Relations
Ministry of Foreign Relations
El Caribe
El Caribe
Noticias SIN
El Dia
Listin Diario
Guyana Chronicle
9 August 2023