Trinidad and Tobago’s Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Thursday said that while Guyana should work towards ensuring its “energy security and energy independence,” its citizens should not abandon the country’s agricultural and other industrial prospects as the emerging oil and gas sector here is developed.
“Do all of this legislatively. You need to have robust legislation to protect your country’s patrimony. At the same time it must not be so filled up with endless bureaucracy and red tape that it will drive away potential investors. You need the investors. They are coming with equity. They have the money to monetise the resources,” Persad-Bissessar, the feature speaker, told invitees at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association’s Annual Awards at the Pegasus Hotel on Thursday evening.
Speaking on the topic “Managing Oil and Gas Revenues – experiences and lessons learned from Trinidad and Tobago,” Persad-Bissessar said there are important lessons that Guyana can learn from the twin island republic’s experiences, but she was sad and embarrassed to speak about managing oil and gas revenues to a Guyanese audience “given what is happening in my own country with our oil and gas sector.”
