Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness is leaving Guyana on Friday after the two countries signed a series of agreements across various sectors that President Irfaan Ali said could lead to a ‘stronger, relentless, resilient and sustainable partnership’. between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd and his Jamaican counterpart, Kamina Johnson-Smith, signed the agreements that included the protocol amending the agreement on economic, cultural and technical cooperation, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture, the MoU between the Guyana Defence Force and the Jamaica Defence Force on defence and security cooperation and the the MoU on the development of financial services. Holness told the signing ceremony that there has always been a ‘great fraternity between Jamaica and Guyana’ and that he was also pleased with the ‘excellent arrangements that have been made for this visit.
‘Today we sign various MOUs, but that should not be interpreted as the entirety of the engagement. Those are just what we could formalise within the time. The breadth of our exchanges and the potential of our collaboration and cooperation is extensive,’ Holness said.
‘We have discussed energy, security, tourism, financial services, agriculture, housing, all kinds of things we have discussed, including regional and diplomatic issues. And it is clear that Jamaica and Guyana are very much aligned, and we have a similar outlook on the world, similar understanding of the changing dynamics and the new nature of global politics,’ Holness said.
But he said the two countries also share a ‘very positive outlook on our economic prospects’ and that both are very prospecting’ in terms of our leadership, always looking for opportunities and seeing where we can make the most out of the resources that we have’.
The Jamaican prime minister said that the two leaders ‘particularly share a focus on the efficiency of our public sector,’ praising Ali for the several changes ‘in your administration that would be very much aligned with the growth that your country will naturally have.
‘We in Jamaica, we struggle with the same thing. We are making progress. We are changing our bureaucracy. So it was good to come and see in your country many of the changes in motion, the changes working. And it has been very stimulating, Mr. President, to see the progress being made here.’
Holness said that there are some ideas that he will take away from the visit here ‘to stimulate in Jamaica as well,’ adding ‘this was a very worthwhile and meaningful engagement’.
Ali said that even though the visit was supposed to have been classified as ‘an official’ one, Holness work ethic caused him to question that description.
‘This is just an extremely intense working visit and I just want the people of Jamaica to know of this extraordinary leadership I’ve seen, and a commitment to advancing the cause of the Jamaican private sector, and a commitment of advancing the cause of the Jamaican people, finding ways in which we can advance priorities for both countries.’
Ali said he is confident that the discussions have ‘really laid the basis through which greater trust, greater confidence, greater partnership will emerge.
‘I am very confident about that,’ he said, adding that both men share the ambition of having efficient governance, efficient implementation, and delivering services ‘where our people can enjoy the experience of having those services.
‘Services that allow the citizens to feel as if they are valued. And that is important for both of us, and we are both committing on a pathway with the use of technology to advance this cause.’
Ali gave the assurance that Guyana will deploy a team to work with its counterpart in Jamaica ‘and to have maybe what is missing over the decades, that is greater integration at the technical level also, so that they can learn from each other and understand each other, what they’re doing.
‘In energy, the opportunities are enormous. We have to scope our comparative advantage, your infrastructure and our infrastructure, and to find a way in which we can have a common vehicle through which both of us benefit, but also the region benefit.
‘And we are committed to having a working group examine this closely and to come up with recommendations and options as to how we can collaborate in the energy sector. And there are some exciting ideas that we’re already talking about.
‘In tourism, you have distinguished yourself globally in the orange economy .Everybody, they’re always amazed at the presence of Jamaica, the name Jamaica, and scenes from Jamaica in Hollywood, the depth of the culture, the food,’ Ali said, adding that ‘all of this rests on the people, and the people understanding of what nationalistic thinking is all about, and the pride in country.
‘And I think we can learn from Jamaica. We can learn from you, Prime Minister. As we grow our tourism sector, this is an important pillar and also look at the development of the orange economy,’ he said, adding ‘we will be relying on your experience in this sector to help us to define our orange economy and to shape it to meet the specific needs of Guyana and the market we can serve’.
Ali said that his Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashley Singh has said publicly before that the Jamaican financial system has a lot of maturity that the region can learn and benefit from. ‘That is why we are particularly very pleased that we are able to sign this MoU on financial services, given the fact that we are now proceeding on a junior stock exchange, the expertise of Jamaica, having our insurance company more integrated, our financial systems more integrated, our banking system more integrated, our means of settlement more integrated.
‘This is what that opens up the opportunity and there’s a lot of work in the financial architecture system that will emerge out of these engagements. ‘
Ali also praised Jamaica on having done an excellent job on the issue of security, saying ‘outstanding is an understatement, remarkable is an understatement.
‘What you have done for security and crime in Jamaica is nothing short of a model…and I hope the people of Jamaica understand what you have done. We too are doing an enormous job on crime.
‘But I think there are important opportunities that we have discussed. We are building a world-class academy. Training is important. Cyber security is important. Data sovereignty is important. So when we speak about security, we’re not speaking about it in a narrow traditional sense.
‘We’re exploring security in its entire ecosystem and we look forward to working closely with Jamaica, especially given the financial services that you provide on how we can build out this security architecture that is comprehensive,’ Ali added.