Introduction
Beginning with this brief introduction, in coming weeks I explore the linkage between initiatives to recover stolen public assets in Guyana and financing for its development. Presently, this is one of the most researched topics engaging international development agencies, governments, academics, and civil society advocates. More specifically, (as I shall explain more fully later) this is happening because worldwide, countries are preparing for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. This is scheduled to be held next month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And, as designed, this conference precedes the United Nations Global Summit, expected to adopt, formally, the Sustainable Development Goals (SSGs) global agenda later in September.
Before addressing this crucial topic, I must first wrap up the deferred discussion of the situation in the rice industry. To recall, in the two previous columns I had characterized the sugar and rice industries as dangerously perched on “ticking economic time-bombs,” which threaten both the government’s public spending priorities and financing for development arising from the successful recovery of stolen public assets. I have already considered sugar from this
