Guyana and India are set to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen its energy partnership and the South- Asian country’s Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is expected Guyana to ink this agreement.
This was announced by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo who just returned from an official visit to India.
The MoU, Jagdeo told reporters on Friday, is pending the approval of India’s cabinet. Once approved, the two countries will sign it.
He, however, emphasised that this MoU is an overarching framework for energy cooperation and that includes developing Guyana’s oil and gas resources and more renewable sources of energy.
The MoU does not focus exclusively on oil and gas, or selling oil to India despite the country’s longstanding interest in securing a long-term supply deal with Guyana.
“The MoU will deal with a number of issues. It will deal with exploring the possibility of trading in crude oil (that is, the sale of crude oil) but we agreed with the minister that this has to be beneficial to both countries and it has to follow market conditions.
“There is no agreement to sell oil to India at this point in time. Any such agreement will have to be competitive and benefit both parties,” Jagdeo clarified.
Minister Jaishankar was slated to visit Guyana in 2021 but those plans were postponed.
