A Private Sector Commission (PSC) team led by Chairman, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, on Tuesday met with representatives of several U.S Government agencies who were on a visit to Guyana to scope out investment opportunities. During the meeting, private sector partnerships were discussed with an added objective of creating more employment opportunities in the South American country.
Led by the International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adam Boehler, the team of representatives from U.S Government agencies including the Department of the Treasury, the Export-Import Bank, the Department of State, the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security “concluded a very productive conversation with Nick Boyer, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission as well as members of the Private Sector,” U.S Ambassador, Sarah-Ann Lynch said.
With the advent of Guyana’s oil and gas industry, investors have been flocking the country. Commenting on the meeting with the U.S officials, the PSC Chairman said, “I think it’s a great time for us because we can grow in our partnership with the U.S which we clearly have an affinity for and a large diaspora in and a target market for agricultural exports, and we have a great partner now who can provide access to capital and help us with our infrastructure build out to really unlock the potential of a number of sectors in Guyana.”
The DFC’s visit is in keeping with an agreement between the U.S and Guyana for collaboration on energy and investment, especially among the private sector. Boehler said the meeting with the PSC was positive, and he foresees “a very strong” partnership being established.
“We talked about investment in small and medium-sized businesses, we talked about investment in agriculture and farmers. At the end of the day, one of my main goals at DFC is to increase the amount of jobs and the livelihood of the individual person living here in Guyana, so that is going to be a major focus on what we do,” the DFC CEO disclosed.
According to Boehler, the DFC — which is the US’ development bank — has the ability to financially back both U.S and Guyanese companies. “…we know that there’s a lot of great American-Guyanese that like to come in and invest but we can back Guyanese companies as well in some of these efforts so we’re not just restricted and we’ll be looking with Nick [Deygoo-Boyer] and his team at all aspects to drive development here,” he said.
In examining and determining the projects that they hope to execute, Boehler said that the focus will be on executing high quality projects and “local labour to drive those.”
