Shortly after arriving in Guyana on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo met with President Irfaan Ali, during which the two leaders discussed several matters including leveraging Guyana’s wealth of natural resources for the country’s development.
Following his meeting with the new Guyanese President, Secretary Pompeo in a tweet stated, “Honored to sit down with President Irfaan Ali tonight. I welcomed the opportunity to candidly discuss governance, citizen security, and leveraging Guyana’s wealth of natural resources to provide for its future.” He added, “We enjoy a strong relationship with Guyana, and look forward to working with the new democratically elected government to expand prosperity and security for our people.”
The visit to Guyana is one stop among several on his itinerary. Prior to arriving in Guyana, he was in Paramaribo, Suriname, and will be visiting Boa Vista, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; and Plano, Texas.
The Department of State has previously said that apart from meeting President Ali, he would also be reinforcing “the promise of a values-based U.S. partnership highlighting opportunities for more responsible and transparent private sector investment to increase prosperity for the people of Guyana, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
There is also expected to be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards improving the investment environment in the country, which is now a new oil producing nation, with an estimated reserve of over 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
“The Secretary will also sign a Growth in the Americas memorandum of understanding. This will permit Guyana to improve its investment enabling environment so that the country can benefit from transparent infrastructure investment that respects Guyana’s sovereignty,” a press release from the State Department had said. Growth in the Americas centers on building an enabling environment for private sector investment in energy and infrastructure that is transparent, competitive, and in line with international best practices.
