$10.03B approved for Foreign Affairs Ministry

…Foreign Service Institute to be completed by May

The Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry has secured a $10.03 billion allocation in Budget 2026, with $138.338 million set aside for the completion of a new building at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) and allocations towards institutional strengthening and digitisation.
The allocation was approved on Tuesday during the consideration of estimates in the 2026 Budget before the Committee of Supply in the National Assembly at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd told the House that the FSI is expected to be completed by mid-May.

“So we’re erecting a new building at the Foreign Service Institute, so we’re catering for that in this year’s budget because the completion date should be sometime in mid-May. So we factor that into the new building,” the Minister said.
Digitisation has also been identified as a key priority for 2026, with $10 million allocated specifically for the digitisation of the Ministry’s records and an additional $31 million earmarked for IT infrastructure. A further $54 million has been budgeted for vehicles.
Under the Development of Foreign Policy programme, an allocation of $862 million has been approved. This includes $410 million for legal and advisory services, $269.525 million for advocacy, $5 million for public diplomacy and public relations activities, $35 million for diaspora engagements and outreaches, $10 million for digitisation of the Ministry’s records, $65 million for bank charges and remittances to overseas missions, $31 million for IT infrastructure and $37 million for operational and administrative expenditure.
Another $620 million has been allocated under the same programme for operational diplomatic engagements. The breakdown includes $200 million for transportation and visiting delegations, $140 million for multilateral and global affairs, $100 million for official visits, $40 million for official events, receptions and conferences, $80 million for official tokens and branding, $2.5 million for IT infrastructure and equipment, $30 million to support missions, $25 million for administrative and office use, and $2.5 million for special projects for diplomatic operations.
During the scrutiny of the estimates, Todd faced questions from several Opposition Members, including Amanza Walton-Desir of Forward Guyana, APNU’s Riaz Rupnarain, and WIN’s Andrew Lewis and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.
The Minister also disclosed that the Government is paying US$450,000 per month to two lobbying firms to advance Guyana’s interests internationally. He said DR Consultancy receives US$400,000 monthly under a one-year contract, while Continental receives US$50,000 monthly under a six-month contract.
“The lobby firms are not there to help us conduct our foreign policy. These are registered agencies that advocate on behalf of Governments. And in our case, because of where we are in terms of our development trajectory, we have to also compete for the attention of big states. It helps us to manoeuvre in the corridors of power to get to those offices that they need to hear from us, and we don’t have the manpower on this side to do it. So we use the lobby firms to help us to facilitate moving in that direction. So it’s to help enhance, not to help us conduct our foreign policy,” Todd explained.