Energy, economic transitions will make Guyana a leader in C’bean – fmr Colombian President

Praising Guyana as a very important model to share with the world, former Colombian President Ivan Duque believes that the country’s oil resources can trigger an outstanding energy and economy transition.
The former Colombian Leader addressed the International Energy Conference and Expo 2023 on Tuesday, where he lauded the Low Carbon Development Strategy launched in 2009 in the country’s pre-oil era and Government’s efforts to update the policy in aligning it with reality of the country.

“It was not just great paperwork, great vision. It is policies that is taking place day by day…I think Guyana is a very important model to share with the world,” Duque remarked.
Now it has been highlighted that Guyana has potential to wield its vast oil resources in transforming the country and creating a model that can be used across the world. Sporting a carbon-negative environment and one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, Duque said, must be leveraged intelligently.
“Guyana has today the possibility of the underground to close the social divide, to eradicate poverty on ground…There has to be a plan for an economic transition that allows this country to become a very important player in food security, energy security, science and technology in the Caribbean, and the possibility to be a hub for entrepreneurship,” he said.
“We shall see this not as the opportunity for the oil and gas to do well. We have to see this opportunity to demonstrate that the Low Carbon Development Strategy is coherent by bringing the resources to ensure that the transformation takes place, and that conditional and non-conditional transfers for people in need are really creating the opportunity that people expect,” he stated.
Duque believes that the ‘next big thing’ that can happen for Guyana is transformation of the infrastructure rapidly and developing public-private partnerships. He posited that oil and gas resources would not be depleted in the short term, but, at the same time, they must be used sustainably while advancing environmental policies.

Evaluating patterns which show a peak within the next decade and a decrease in production, he called for a smart transition to generate social, economic and technological transformations.

The former Colombian President noted, “The International Energy Agency has said, between now and 2035, we might have a reduction in worldwide production, which also means that we’re going to have costlier energy. And if you have the access to these resources, you have to be able to consider that – even if you have a reduction in the consumption pattern, that it is also taking place – countries with this type of access to energy need to advance in what I call a smart transition. It means using the richness of the underground to eradicate the poverty on ground.”
It was voiced that carbon-neutral and nature-positive are two concepts which the world should be advancing, and it has been added that it is not a contradictory request, but one that works in complementary synchrony.
Duque pointed to Colombia, which was able to increase oil production, increase reserves, grant new fields, and develop offshore oil and gas while facing an energy transition in the last four years.
“Seventy-five percent of our electricity is generated by water, so this makes Colombia one of the countries in the world with the cleanest energy matrix. This happened at the same time that we were developing oil and gas and increasing our reserves and reducing the industry’s carbon footprint. So, it is coherent to advance in this direction.”
Colombia has been able to develop green financing, increase its protected areas from 14 percent to 34 percent, and establish a voluntary carbon market that allows new players to participate.

Cooperative approach
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley, also in attendance at the conference, recognised that the regional energy landscape does not equip any single country to meet the energy security requirements of the region.
“A cooperative approach allows for shared risks and diversified perspectives, and will facilitate the development and execution of innovative solutions to the challenges associated with the energy demand of the region. It is with this recognition that Trinidad and Tobago has taken a deliberate policy to engage our regional neighbours in the development of economic cooperation in the energy sector,” Rowley told stakeholders.
The Trinidadian PM shared that oil-importing countries in the Caribbean reported spending up to 15 percent of GDP on fuel imports.
“The heavy dependence on imported energy has negatively affected the economic performance of many Caribbean nations, contributing to instability in both fiscal and external accounts. This includes Trinidad and Tobago, which was importing most of its crude oil and creating refined products,” he said. (G12)