Norwegian delegation due in Guyana next week

A Norwegian technical team is due in Guyana next Tuesday for a series of engagements with the Guyana Government, the Ministry of Natural Resources said Tuesday in a statement.
The team comprises officials from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative.
The focus of the April 26 to May 4, 2016 visit is to work with the Natural Resources Ministry, the Office of Climate Change (OCC), the Project Management Office (PMO), Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and other stakeholders, “to improve capacity in executing the Joint Concept Note and taking advantage of REDD+ opportunities.”
The statement said that since it took office in May, 2015, the Government of Guyana has been making steady progress towards creating a stronger agreement and better outcomes for Guyana’s green growth.
“To date, the Government has facilitated several meetings and discussions with Norwegian Official,” it said.
The statement said during a recent exchange with Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman and Norway’s new Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen recognised the efforts being made by government.
“I would like to congratulate you on your initiative to review and make public all information on logging concessions,” the statement said.
Minister Helgesen was also quoted as saying he was encouraged that the Guyana government intended to review the Amerindian Act, in close consultation with affected stakeholders.
Minister Trotman, who has responsibility for the Guyana/Norway agreement is also encouraged by the progress to date and looks forward to the visit, which will continue to advance the partnership in a way that is supportive of Guyana’s “green growth” vision.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is quoted in other sections of the media as saying he will maintain his call for a suspension of the Guyana-Norway Partnership until Trotman apologises or an international probe is launched into his claim that the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic had given out all of Guyana’s productive forest.
Trotman told Guyana’s National Assembly during the 2016 Budget debate in February that when the APNU/AFC (PPP/C) took office it found that all of the productive forests were allocated.
The PPP/C has since rubbished the claims as “wild”.
Guyana and Norway entered into the forest partnership back in 2009 and this country has already earned up to US0 million.
Of that amount, US million has been transferred to the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF).
US million has been transferred to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the delayed Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.