Guyana inks agreement with Islamic Bank for ‘green’ infrastructure, economic diversification

See the full statement from the Ministry of Finance Below:

 Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh today, on behalf of Government today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) concerning the Country Engagement Framework for Guyana for Green, resilient and sustainable infrastructure as well as for supporting economic diversification and doing business. The Minister is currently in Saudia Arabia leading Guyana’s delegation attending the 2023 Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group Annual Meetings. Signing the MOU on the IsDB’s behalf was its President Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser.

The MOU comprises two pillars with the first under the scope of Green, resilient and sustainable infrastructure seeking to support the enhancement of base infrastructure across the energy, transport, water and sanitation sectors and affordable housing. The second pillar-supporting economic diversification and doing business supports the integration of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Digital Financial Inclusion, development of agriculture and tourism industries, support to the mining sector, Halal eco-system and Awqaf development, financial markets deepening and MSMEs (Micro Small Medium Enterprises)-support through Islamic Finance and trade financing support.

Yesterday Dr. Singh attended the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group Annual Meetings in Jeddah, in the King Abdullah Congress Center. The theme of this year’s annual meeting is “Partnerships to Fend off Crises” and takes place between May 10-13. They comprise delegations from the Group’s 57 Member countries in addition to observers from international and regional organizations who have gathered to discuss development issues and institutional matters.

In June 2022 while attending the IsDB Group’s Meetings in Egypt, Dr. Singh had posited that the Islamic Development Bank will continue to be a highly valued development partner for Guyana.

The Minister had underscored that in order to sustain strong non-oil growth into the medium and longer term, Government is putting in place the prerequisites for diversifying the productive sector, improving competitiveness, and increasing resilience including investing in adequate, reliable, affordable, and cleaner electricity which is essential for a competitive manufacturing sector, expanding and upgrading transport infrastructure, improving internal access; ramping up food production by bringing more acreage under cultivation and widening the range of crops grown as well as animals reared. On the climate front, despite being a new oil producer, Dr. Singh said Guyana places the highest level of importance to its climate credentials.

“Our Low Carbon Development Strategy outlines a plan to ensure that the role of our standing forests in the global effort to fight climate change is recognised and remunerated, in order to enable us to make the required investments to achieve accelerated economic growth along a low carbon climate-friendly trajectory,” he added.

The Senior Finance Minister had also expressed gratitude to the Bank for its continued support.

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