Diaspora Engagement Action Plan being finalised – Harmon

– as Govt hosts Diaspora investment forum

To help strengthen relations in this regard, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has partnered with the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) to host 10 members from the diaspora in order to promote foreign-based investments in Guyana. The participants were chosen from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
‘Go See Visit’ is a collaborative effort to bring selected entrepreneurs from the Guyanese diaspora back to their home country with the aim of exploring prospects for establishing small and medium-sized businesses here.
The one-week forum opened on Monday at the Pegasus Hotel under the theme “Engaging the diaspora for socio-economic development in Guyana”.
Addressing the opening ceremony, State Minister Joseph Harmon noted that this project is demonstrative of Government’s commitment to further cultivate and strengthen relations with the diaspora.
Performing the duties of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Harmon disclosed that Government is in the final stages of concluding its new Diaspora Engagement Strategy action plan, which would formally guide its relationship with the diaspora.
The State Minister noted that this Action Plan is expected to address the concerns which members of the diaspora have and have had over the years.
“The new Diaspora Engagement Strategy and Action Plan will address the concerns which, you the members of the diaspora, have and have had over the years. This comprehensive policy document will not be a dormant white paper; instead, it will be a policy guide that will require stakeholders to adhere to principles based on international and other proven best practices, and will be predicated on the unavoidable pervasive precepts of accountability and transparency.”
According the State Minister, this strategy document is currently before a cabinet sub-committee, and will be given urgent attention in order to have it materialise as soon as possible.
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), Owen Verwey, told the participants that this is an opportune time to invest in Guyana. He added that this is not so just because of the emerging oil sector that the country is working on establishing, but because of the many investment opportunities that are potential with the largely unexplored and underexplored lands that are available here.
“Guyana is open for business… There are opportunities that have either been never explored, underexplored, (or) awaiting for those who’ve got the knowledge, experience, access to capital and the methods of bringing the know-hows to the market,” he stated.
In closing his brief remarks, Verwey encouraged the participants to make the best of this opportunity of exploring what Guyana has to offer by taking in and considering all the information being offered to them throughout the one-week forum.

Diaspora Representative Clifton McDonald; CEO of GO-Invest Owen Verwey; State Minister Joseph Harmon; IOM Chief of Mission, Robert Natiello;and Head of the Diaspora Unit at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Michael Brotherson, along with participants from the three countries
A section of those in attendance at the opening ceremony of the workshop, held at Pegasus Hotel on Monday

Some of the areas that the participants have shown interest in are: agriculture, information and communication technology (ICT), renewable energy, and agro-processing among others.
IOM Chief of Mission in Guyana, Robert Natiello, thanked persons in the diaspora for having an interest in the development of the country.
“Your direct investments as entrepreneurs can strengthen prospects for economic growth in Guyana by fostering the formation and growth of businesses, supporting innovation, and developing new sectors of the economy,” he stated.
Natiello, who is also IOM’s Regional Coordination Officer, lauded Government for creating opportunity for diaspora investments.
“IOM encourages the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana to continue to develop and implement policies that can create the right atmosphere — conducive to diaspora entrepreneurship and (collaborative) between the diaspora investors and the local business owners,” he noted.
The IOM representative declared this initiative a step in the right direction for the Guyana Government, and he opined that it would provide powerful stimulus to support Guyana’s continued development.
This initiative comes in light of the coalition Government being heavily criticised, particularly from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition, for failing to attract any major and significant investment from the diaspora, despite several engagements both here and abroad. (Vahnu Manikchand)