By Abigail Headley
During an official visit to the Dominican Republic (DR), President Irfaan Ali yesterday clinched several MoUs with his counterpart, President Luis Abinader at the DR’s National Palace on an oil refinery and petrochemical plant among other areas.
According to the DR’s #1 news source, Listin Diario, Abinader announced plans to construct an oil refinery and a petrochemical plant that will produce urea for agricultural production, with the DR having a stake of over 51% in both projects.
Memoranda
Executive director of the Guyana Office for Investment (G-Invest) Peter Ramsaroop and director of Prodominicana, Biviana Riveiro, signed the initial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which is aimed at enhancing bilateral investment relations. The primary goal, Listin Diario noted, is to facilitate foreign direct investment by providing practical investment information to companies, acknowledging that both countries are open to foreign investment, as outlined in their laws, procedures, and international agreements.
According to reports regarding the memorandum of understanding for investments, over three Dominican Republic companies are partnering with Guyana on investments, and Guyana is expected to export over 700,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the MOU on Cooperation in the field of tourism was endorsed by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of Guyana, Oneidge Walrond and the DR’s Minister of Tourism, David Collado. This agreement recognizes the two parties’ commitment to promoting tourism cooperation between them, for their mutual benefit. To achieve this common objective, they pledged to coordinate their efforts in advancing the tourism sector’s potential in their respective countries.
The remaining four MOU’s were signed by the DR’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Alvarez, and Walrond. The first of these memoranda looks at the possibility of the DR’s involvement in exploring a Guyanese offshore oil block. The cooperation it fosters aims to provide the basis for the DR and Guyana, to join forces in the oil exploration initiative. Both parties will assess the feasibility of this project jointly.
The second MOU is for the establishment of a petrochemical plant in Guyana, with the participation of both countries. They agreed to work together to identify opportunities for the project and assess its technical, economic, legal, social, and environmental aspects, guided by Guyana’s public policy and legal framework.
The third; the MOU for the establishment of an oil refinery, aims at establishing a collaborative effort between both countries. The project will involve the parties’ joint efforts to identify opportunities for establishing an oil refinery, considering the technical, economic, social, legal, and environmental aspects in Guyana’s legal and public policy framework.
The final MoU, for the establishment of joint production of corn, soybeans, and other agricultural products, and cooperation and promotion of the poultry sector, will establish cooperation between Santo Domingo and Georgetown in joint agricultural production. This collaboration extends largely to corn and soybeans.
They will seek to stimulate and complement poultry production and value chains between them, making considerable efforts towards the projects’ implementation.
Overall, these memoranda illustrate the parties’ goal to strengthen their collaborative efforts towards enhancing their bilateral cooperation. The Dominican Republic leader expressed his belief that the two countries can collaborate and complement each other.
“We believe that we can also collaborate … we have shown from the government, since I met President Irfaan Ali and was able to demonstrate and see in him a great leadership, not only for Guyana but for the entire region, with leadership in CARICOM. We established empathy and were able to determine how both countries could complement each other,” Abinader stated.
Following the signing, the two leaders then held an extended meeting and a press conference, during which Abinader revealed that Guyana has established Spanish as a second language.
“”President Irfaan Ali has determined that the second language to be learned in public schools in Guyana is Spanish,” he stated.
The DR’s delegation includes Vice President Raquel Peña; First Lady Raquel Arbaje; Foreign Minister Alvarez; Chief of Staff Joel Santos; Presidential Administrator José Ignacio Paliza; Agriculture Minister Limber Cruz; Industry, Commerce and SMEs Minister Víctor Bisonó; Tourism Minister David Collado; and Energy and Mines Minister Antonio Almonte.
Additionally, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Ramón Pérez Fermín; Director General of Customs Eduardo Sanz Lovatón; Administrator General of the Bank of Reserves Samuel Pereyra; Director of Prodominicana Riveiro; Director of the National Police Major General Eduardo Alberto; Director of the Port Authority Jean Luis Rodríguez; President of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery Council (REFIDOMSA) Leonardo Aguilera; Financial Advisor to the Executive Branch Pablo Portes; DR Ambassador to Guyana Ernesto Torres Pereyra; and Presidential appointee Tulio Rodríguez made up the DR team.
Along with Ali, Ramsaroop, and Walrond, Guyana’s delegation comprises First Lady Arya Ali; Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud; Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Omar Khan; Commissioner of the Guyana Police Force Clifton Hicken; National Security Advisor Captain Gerald Gouveia; Director of Presidential Affairs, Office of the President, Marcia Nadir-Sharma; and Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture Madanlall Ramraj. Also included are Director of the Local Content Secretariat at the Ministry of Natural Resources Martín Pertab; Legal Officer of the Petroleum Department at the Ministry of Natural Resources Michael Munroe; Chairman of the Board of the New Commercial Bank Hayven Floyd Haynes; and entrepreneur Shameer Mohammed.
Upon his arrival, Ali was received by Alvarez along with Dominican Ambassador to Guyana, Ernesto Torres; Director of State Ceremonies and Protocols, Ambassador Francisco José Cantizano Nadal, and officials from the Deputy Ministry of Bilateral Foreign Policy. His visit to the DR had been agreed upon earlier, during Abinader’s trip to Guyana in June, accompanied by dozens of businessmen.
