By Svetlana Marshall

Guyana and India today signed a total of five Memoranda of Understanding, including a bilateral agreement that would see Guyana teaming up with the global economic powerhouse to strengthen cooperation in hydrocarbon trade and petroleum products.

The agreement comes at a critical time, as the two countries, led by their leaders, President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, take critical steps to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a state visit to Guyana, said Guyana will play an important role in India’s energy security. 

“Given the new possibilities in the area of energy, we will move forward together as natural partners. Guyana will play an important in India’s energy security. In this regard, we will create a roadmap for a long-term partnership. The MOU that we are signing today on this subject will further strengthen our cooperation,” Prime Minister Modi said. 

Under the MoU, the two countries will share best practices in the energy sector and engage in technology transfer, while strengthening investments in the gas-to-energy project, fertilizer production, mining, deep-water port infrastructure, and clean energy. 

Other MOUs were signed in the fields of health, pharmaceuticals, broadcasting, culture and agriculture. 

In the area of food security, President Ali said Guyana will receive added support to boost its Rice, Sugar and Soya Industries through the use of technology and innovation. 

“In food security, India support in advancing our rice industry, through technology, innovation and research. India has also committed to supporting us in our sugar industry, not only from an infrastructure perspective but also from a human resource and technical perspective. They will support us in expanding our corn, soya and looking at wheat farming and production here in Guyana, food processing, and important in all of this, research and development,” the President said. 

It is the intention of the two leaders to promote climate resilience and precision agriculture, foster digital public infrastructure and create a supportive ecosystem for farmers, they noted.

The two sides have also agreed to the establishment of a working group to ensure the successful execution of the agreements. 

“Our discussions this morning, and the agreements that we have signed only lay more work for all of us. And we have committed ourselves to this work by the establishment of a framework, the establishment of a working group that will advance all of the ideas, and all the decisions to ensure that the bottlenecks and systemic hinderances would be removed, so that we can accomplish all that we have discussed and agreed on,” President Ali.

Last January, during a visit to India by President Ali, the Governments of India and Guyana also agreed to the establishment of working groups in several areas.

Today, the two leaders said they were pleased with the work of the joint working groups, and they pledged to continue to work together to achieve their goals.

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