In keeping with the government’s commitment to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of the country’s oil revenues, President Irfaan Ali assured on Friday that an amended Natural Resource Fund and Local Content legislation will be taken to the National assembly before the end of 2021.
Dr. Ali said Guyana will receive extensive assistance from experts in Ghana to achieve this. It follows a recent visit by Vice President Dr. Bharat Jagdeo to the oil producing West African nation.
Dr. Ali during a virtual press conference also announced that Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo will participate in the major oil and gas conferenced billed for early next year.
Additional, the country’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is also expected to visit Guyana in coming weeks along with a team of private sector personnel.
“The team will come to establish partnerships with various counterparts… there will be exchanges between the private sector from Ghana and Guyana,” Dr. Ali said.
According to the head of state, the outcome of Vice President Jagdeo’s visit will see technical teams travelling to Guyana from Ghana in November to review work on the gas to shore energy project and give their “opinion and technical views.”
Their work here will also lend assistance to the government on finalizing its local content policy and amendments to the Sovereign Wealth Fund legislation.
“CEOs and high competent persons in these specific areas will be here very early in the new month to start work.
“All of these areas are to be tabled in National Assembly and debated before the end of this year,” Dr. Ali said.
Guyana established a Sovereign Wealth Fund, called the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), in 2019, which is governed by the 2019 Natural Resource Act in accordance with the Santiago Principles.
Guyana and Ghana established diplomatic relations on May 14, 1979.
Both Guyana and Ghana are oil-producing nations and while oil was found in commercial quantities in Guyana in 2015, the “black gold” was discovered offshore in the progressive African nation close to five decades ago.
According to Bloomberg, Ghana is estimated to have between five and seven billion barrels of petroleum in reserve, which is the sixth largest in Africa and ranks among the top 25 largest proven reserves in the world.
The West African nation also has significant natural gas reserves, reports indicate.
