Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, on behalf of President Irfaan Ali today welcomed the fifth United Kingdom (UK) Trade delegation to Guyana as well as newly appointed Member of Parliament in the UK and UK Trade Envoy to the Commonwealth Caribbean, The Honourable Paulette Hamilton during a welcome ceremony at the Marriott Hotel. The Parliamentarian is in Guyana for the first time, and the trade mission is spearheaded by the British High Commission in collaboration with the Caribbean Council, the British Chamber of Commerce (Britcham) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and industry (GCCI). The delegation includes a number of British companies interested in exploring investment opportunities and fostering business partnerships locally and are drawn from several sectors including construction, education, shipping and logistics.
Delivering the keynote address at the forum, Dr. Singh alluded to the British and Caribbean representatives’ announcements at the forum that forty percent of the companies who have come to Guyana on trade missions (with the current mission being the fifth) have been able to close a transaction or enter a partnership in Guyana, which he noted is a remarkable success rate as he thanked all the local and foreign officials involved in the hard work to achieve this success while also recognising the tremendous role played by British High Commissioner to Guyana, Her Excellency Jane Miller in assisting in promoting Guyana to the rest of the world.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise because the Guyanese economy is growing so rapidly that there exists opportunities for investment and opportunities for doing business in literally every single sector of the economy,” Dr. Singh said emphasizing that while a lot is happening in the oil and gas sector through remarkable discoveries made, and the country now producing 900,000 barrels of oil per day, importantly, the story of Guyana is not built on oil alone. Dr. Singh pointed out that under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) led by President Irfaan Ali, emphasis will continue to be on a strong and resilient economy.
“We were in Government prior to the discovery of oil and even at that time we recognized the importance of a more resilient economy which necessarily meant a more diversified economy, an economy whose sources of growth would come from multiple sectors, a wide array of sectors and we invested a lot of policy effort at that time to diversify the economy-an economy that then, was a pre-oil economy, when oil was being searched for and even before that and a lot of our policy effort at that time went into diversifying the economy,” the Minister highlighted. He added that what the discovery of oil has done is allow government to do more and to do more quickly.
“So, the emphasis continues to be on economic resilience which necessarily means a more diversified, productive economy and we have in Guyana a convergence of opportunities that allow us to have multiple opportunities for economic diversification. We are very fortunate in this regard,” Minister Singh posited as he listed the non-oil extractive sectors such as bauxite, manganese and other minerals which have been in production for many years, and which will continue to be important for future growth opportunities in the country.
The finance minister concluded by assuring the UK representatives that government is committed to the linkage formed by the two countries.
“You have in this Government, a government that is committed to this partnership and recognises the importance of unlocking economic growth, the importance of resilience in economic growth and managing our affairs in such a manner to ensure we have a diversified economy that is resilient for the long term. We are also committed to our environmental credentials in that, while we are an oil and gas producer, we are also a net carbon sink, a net negative emitter and will continue to be, because of our vast standing forests and many of you are operating in jurisdictions where that matters as well,” Minister Singh underscored.
Also delivering remarks at the forum, UK Trade Envoy to the Commonwealth Caribbean, Ms. Hamilton who said that when she first took on her role and was learning more about the Caribbean and individual markings of opportunities in the region, a standout factor was the growth and the future growth potential of Guyana.
“This is truly an exciting time for Guyana and its people. I don’t have to tell you the figures. 43.8 percent GDP growth in 2024 with projections of 10.6 percent in 2025-, and double-digit growth for the next three years is astounding to say the least. What has been most impressive about it, is despite 40 oil discoveries in eleven billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, the story of Guyana was not built on oil alone,” she added.
Alluding to this second anniversary of the removal of visa restrictions for Guyanese visiting the UK as well as the second anniversary for direct flights from Guyana to London by British Airways, Alain Archibald, Charge D’Affaires at the British High Commission who spoke on behalf of High Commissioner Jane Miller, said that all this has created an explosion in terms of British-Guyana trade relations, adding that it has boosted Guyana/Britain Trade relationship with business services at the end of last year totalling 1.6 billion pounds, an increase of nearly twenty percent on 2023’s.
Meanwhile, Chris Bennet, Managing Director at the Caribbean Council said the council has been working with Guyana for years and recalled that during first oil in 2020, when the first UK Trade delegation arrived, it was quick to see that the country was one that was rolling up its sleeves wanting to get things done.
“It is one thing to have the revenues and the opportunities in oil, but it is quite something else to actually make something happen with it and I think that we can all see that that is what is happening. Things are getting done and it is a testament both to the private sector and to the government that they are working closely together they have vision, they have leadership and they are really delivering to the people of Guyana,” he added, pointing to all the things done in the last years as being impressive.
Also delivering remarks at the event were D’Jamila Ward- Regional Director for Commonwealth Caribbean, Department for Business and Trade, Anand Harilall -Director and Secretary at the British Chamber of Commerce Guyana and Kristia Ramlagan-Prescott, Secretary and Councillor at the GCCI.
The UK trade delegation will be in Guyana between the period November 25-28,2025 and will participate in a number of engagements with government and the private sector.
