President Dr. Irfaan Ali Tuesday said technical experts from India have expressed interest in helping to restructure the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to ensure that sugar production remains a profitable venture.
The interest from India is also met with proposals by Guatemalan authorities who also indicated that they can possibly help the government in its revitalisation efforts.
“We have to bring in the technical expertise.
“So we are working on getting the technical capability to support the local management team (at GuySuCo) to push the company into profitability,” Dr. Ali said.
Guatemala will be establishing a full diplomatic presence in Guyana before the end of the first quarter with plans to open an embassy in Georgetown.
And Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo is expected to travel to India in February where he will follow up on the associated expression of interest.
Last year, President Ali convened a meeting with the management of GuySuCo at State House to discuss its strategic direction.
There, the common thread of the President’s message was that the government remained serious about returning the sugar industry to viability.
The Head of State told approximately 180 managers and other senior officials that “it cannot be business as usual.”
Dr. Ali spoke of the need for them to be more effective, efficient, and results-driven in the ever-changing landscape.
The government has allocated $4 billion in the 2023 budget to support these efforts.
Previously, an additional $6 billion was set aside in the 2022 budget to support GuySuCo’s ongoing investment in field and factory operations to turn around the industry with the reopening of estates.
Since returning to office in August 2020, the government provided operational and restructuring support to GuySuCo in the sum of $11 billion and also injected $600 million to assist with wages and salaries.
These interventions came following the closure of four sugar estates (Wales, Skeldon, Rose Hall, and Enmore) and the retrenchment of over 7,000 sugar workers by the previous APNU+AFC government.
Already, the government has reopened the Rose Hall Estate. In addition, over 1,300 persons have been reemployed and over 5,000 workers who were severed in 2016 and 2017 have each received cash grants of $250,000 in 2021.
In anticipation of improved production levels, GuySuCo is expected to be concentrating its marketing efforts on shifting from the low-value bulk-sugar markets to more bagged and packaged sugar products.
The government had previously said that there will be a significant reduction in dependency on government support by 2026.
