Guyana in talks with Bangalore to set up regional agri-tech campus

…as India-Guyana taking bilateral ties to new heights

With assistance from India’s renowned technological expertise, the Guyana Government is looking to establish a regional agri-tech campus here to further advance food security efforts in the Caribbean.
This was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali during his address at a reception held in Georgetown on Thursday evening to commemorate India’s 73rd Republic Anniversary.
According to the Head of State, India has mastered technology that is efficient, cost effective and reliable – something which they are willing to share with Guyana.
“We had elaborate discussions with the Bangalore Bio innovation Centre (BBC). Every single day in their life, they wake up testing technology, mastering technology, producing technology that is affordable and practical. So, they will be working with us in building out not a Guyana but a regional agri-tech campus right here that will support our regional food hub,” he stated.

Only earlier this month, President Ali led a high-level Government and private sector delegation to India where they engaged stakeholders from a vast section of industries.
The BBC, according to its website, is a state-of-the-art translational research and entrepreneurship centre catering to all the needs of start-ups in life science located in the city of Bangalore, India.
The Guyanese leader pointed out on Thursday that in addition to setting up the agri-tech campus, this plan also includes re-engineering the supply and logistics chain, research and development that deals with human resource training, the technology and the improvement in policies that will lead to greater yield and productivity.
He noted that the overall aim is to build an agriculture sector with an ecosystem that includes the regional food hub.
“Over the next few months, you will see a number of measures that will be aimed at creating this new ecosystem around agriculture but focusing on high-value, focusing on new areas and innovation because that is where the future will go. We are building a food production and agricultural system on a platform that will make it competitive, resilient to operate in an economy 2023 and beyond,” he stated.
President Ali is currently leading the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom’s) food security initiative that seeks to reduce the Region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025.
According to the Head of State, the Latin America and Caribbean Region is the most food insecure region in the world and cannot wait for a full-blown crisis to hit before taking action.
“We have to create the policy environment, the institutional framework and the ecosystem to support a food production system for the Region that will help us to withstand this… Time is against us. Those who believe that we have time, you’re dreaming because if we can’t build an economy and an ecosystem in the next seven years that is functional, resilient and sustainable to survive in the world 2030 and beyond then I’m sorry, we’ll just be marking time,” he asserted.
On this note, the Guyanese leader stated that this is where India, as a bilateral partner, presents excellent opportunities for collaboration.
“India, for me, presents an excellent opportunity in this day and age for that type of bilateral partnership that allow our country to grow, our people to grow, will allow our technology to improve and will build better opportunities for both countries,” he stated.
To this end, the President said coming out of his India visit, four committees have been set up at the Government level to advance discussions had beyond the talking stage. As a matter of fact, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo will be leading another high-level Government delegation to India in February.
According to Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa, this upcoming visit will highlight more scope that exists for the two countries to work together in areas such climate change and environmental disaster mitigation efforts.
The Indian diplomat noted there has been a renewed enthusiasm injected into the bilateral relationship between Guyana and India as the two nations enter into a new phase of collaboration. He noted that January 2023 has already been productive in terms of India-Guyana partnership.
“The extensive engagements [earlier this month] has given a new impetus for widespread collaboration between India and Guyana… We expect bigger things to follow in the near future,” he noted.
Cooperation in infrastructure, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, agro-processing, renewable energy, transport, combatting climate change, information technology, bio-technology, education, human resources, skills development and capacity building are expected to take off in both the public and private sectors of the two nations.
“[The Guyanese business delegation was] able to work out many business deals while in India… I believe the extensive engagements themselves and the resulting action, the follow-up action, would be enough for the trajectory of this bilateral relationship to be on the upstream. The fruitful exchanges during that visit, provided an opportunity for refocused discussions on exploring new areas of cooperation within the two countries also…”
“I’m very happy and hope that the new India-Guyana relations would touch new heights and our partnership will be successful in improving livelihoods of the common man [in] both countries and as well as provide a new threshold for success in our bilateral cooperation efforts,” High Commissioner Srinivasa stressed.
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s reception, several Indo-Guyanese were recognised for their sterling contributions to society. Additionally, the Indian High Commission also awarded several students who excelled academically at various examinations last year. (G3)