Black Immigrant Daily News

As Guyana continues on its unprecedented development trajectory, discussions were held with officials from the United Kingdom on future investment opportunities by UK Export Finance (UKEF) here.

The meeting was held on Wednesday between Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, and British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, along with two officials from UKEF – Regional Head for Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, Rose Trigg, and Business Manager, Civil, Infrastructure & Energy, Simon Bunckenburg.

Other officials from the Finance Ministry also joined the meeting.

“The meeting also allowed for further discussions surrounding the possibility of future investment opportunities by UKEF in Guyana, as the country continues on its rapid development trajectory in both the public and private sectors,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

However, the missive noted that the essence of Wednesday’s engagement was a follow-up to the partnership established between the government and UKEF for the construction of the EUR$149 million new state-of-the-art Pediatric and Maternal hospital at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

The hospital is being built with financial support from UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency and is the first UKEF-supported project ever done in Guyana. The facility will be constructed by VAMED, an Austria-based company that is a global provider of hospitals and other facilities in the healthcare sector.

In July, President Dr Irfaan Ali along with other officials turned the sod for the two-year construction of the medical facility.

The low-rise Pediatric and Maternal Hospital will have 256 beds and will be a referral centre for women and children. It will specialize in maternal, neonatal, and pediatric care with a huge imaging suite for services such as CT scans and MRIs, a modern laboratory, and surgical suites.

During his address at the sod-turning, President Ali noted that this hospital is a demonstration of the relations established between the two nations, adding that Guyana intends to further strengthen and capitalise on this tie with the European country.

In fact, just last month, the Guyanese Head of State pointed out that Guyana will now seek more financing from the UK for transformative infrastructural projects here after the British Government announced visa-free travel for Guyanese.

“The idea of this visa waiver for visitors is not only about strengthening the relationship and building out the expansion of the economic opportunities between Guyana and the UK… These days, it is getting very complex to finance the market, especially with the volatility that exists. And we are pursuing very, very strong terms in favour of Guyana, fixed-rate financing and less than three percent, and that is how we have been pushing for financing. It is difficult to achieve in this market but we are still pursuing this,” he stated.

President Ali emphasised the economic potential of Guyana and spoke extensively about opportunities in the infrastructure, tourism, and other sectors with significant development potential. He added that visa-wavier will open up immense opportunities, not only for infrastructure and economic activities as a result of trade, but also for Guyana as a hub to serve the region.

Meanwhile, High Commissioner Miller noted that the visa lift is a real sign of the confidence that the UK has in Guyana. In fact, she had revealed that in mid-November, a British trade mission will be coming to Guyana to explore the investment opportunities being offered here.

This will follow the visit of a previous UK trading mission earlier this year, scoping investment opportunities here. That trade mission had comprised nine British companies ranging from education, manufacturing, and infrastructure.

Back in June, it was reported that Guyana is the UK’s United Kingdom’s largest trade partner in the Caribbean region, attracting interest in the establishment of a British Chamber of Commerce locally.

Last year, trade in goods and services between the UK and Guyana was £560 million. This represented 21.6 per cent of trade facilitated between the Caribbean Region thus making Guyana the largest trade partner in the Region.

President Ali revealed last month that Guyana’s trade with the UK has increased by over 17 per cent in the last four quarters with more and more local goods continuing to be exported.

“The UK’s import from and export to Guyana, for the previous four quarters, increased by 17.2 per cent. That is the UK imports increased by 7.2 per cent and the exports, 2.7 per cent. Now this can increase greatly, with just one transaction,” the Head of State had noted.

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Les ombres du Real Madrid, de Manchester City et du Bayern Munich planent sur le Paris SG, qui pourrait recroiser l’un de ces cadors lors du tirage au sort des 8es de finale de Ligue des champions…

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The Education Ministry in Trinidad and Tobago said students and teachers at a school who hid in their classroom after hearing gunfire nearby will be given counselling, and classes will be delivered virtually, while discussions are held to address safety issues.

Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly told Loop News that the ministry is aware of the incident, which took place on October 31, 2022, and has been in communication with school officials and the Catholic Education Board.

The ministry said for the rest of this week, teachers will deliver classes virtually and the Student Support Services Division has planned virtual counselling sessions with students, school personnel, and parents.

Dr Gadsby-Dolly said she has communicated with acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob regarding these safety issues at some schools.

“I have spoken to the commissioner of police about the situation, as it is not only this school which has this type of issue affecting students, teachers and school operations. The commissioner is currently having internal discussions and will revert today (Wednesday) with the TTPS’ recommendations for ensuring the safety of all school personnel during school hours; not for this school only, but for a few others which are similarly affected.

“School relocation has been raised as a solution, and that option is also being evaluated, though no final decision on relocation has been made at this time. The MOE’s focus remains, especially during the rest of this week, on meeting the emotional needs of the staff and students who underwent this traumatic experience.”

She said a decision will be made later this week on school operations.

The video, which was shared online earlier this week, showed primary school students hiding under their desks, while what sounded like gunfire could be heard nearby.

The incident reportedly took place at a school near East Port of Spain.

In the video, a woman can be heard urging the students to be quiet, while the explosive sounds are heard a short distance away.

Police have vowed to step up patrols across the country after a spate of killings, including several incidents in which children were killed or injured.

The National Security Council, headed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, met on Monday to address the crime situation and arrangements were made for joint patrols with members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) throughout the country and in hotspot areas.

The police will also be working with other security units, such as the Municipal Police, and the Transit police to increase presence and visibility to limit the opportunities for criminal activities.

The country recorded 508 murders up to November 1, 2022, with some criminology experts saying that this year could be the country’s bloodiest in history, if killings continue at this rate.

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CMC-Former Foreign Affairs Minister Oliver Joseph has admitted that the previous New National Party (NNP) administration had a policy of accepting cash for diplomatic passports. However, there have been denials that a Polish man was charged almost double the usual amount and a significant portion of that went to the bank account of an NNP constituency office.

Joseph confirmed that there was a policy of the former administration, led by Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, of appointing diplomatic passport holders as ambassadors-at-large if there was no representation in the territory or jurisdiction from which an application for citizenship came. No diplomatic immunity was granted, however, he said.

Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is usually limited to a country or embassy, an ambassador-at-large operates in several neighbouring countries.

“What we [did] is conduct a thorough due diligence investigation and once approved they are then asked to pay the required funds to the state. The fee was US$150,000, nothing more, and the Cabinet conclusions will reflect the same,” Joseph said.

During a town hall meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell alleged that a Polish national had claimed that in June this year, in the midst of the general election campaign, he was asked to pay US$290,000 for a diplomatic passport, with US$150,000 for the State and US$140,000 for the NNP’s constituency office in St George South.

“We have the records…. The Cabinet conclusion said that it was US$290,000 to the State of Grenada. The last time I checked, the constitution does not establish the New National Party South St George office as part of the State of Grenada, so my free advice now is that the New National Party South St George office, or the New National Party for that matter, should kindly hand over to the state of Grenada the US$140,000 that magically found its way into your bank account,” he said at the town hall meeting at the Grenada Trade Centre.

Describing the move by the Polish nation as a gamble in which he lost, the Prime Minister said his government will not grant the request for the money to be returned.

“I do not know who advised the Polish gentleman…. The gentleman has been asking back for his money. The State of Grenada has no intention of paying back any money to anybody, but I also want to point out and give some free advice to the South St George New National Party that you might have to pay back the man his money,” he said.

“This is essentially trading in diplomacy or, more specifically, trading in a diplomatic passport. This administration has put a stop to this, we will not do it, it is wrong. For a government, days before an election to be suggesting to people that they could be made diplomats in the middle of an election campaign ridiculous and that is the kind of challenge that we have to treat with,” Prime Minister Mitchell declared.

However, Joseph insisted that the amount paid to the state was only US$150,000 and there can be no other figures in the Cabinet conclusion.

“That is the figure we set and we did not change it in the build-up to the election, so I challenge those with other evidence to present it,” he said.

Norland Cox who contested the South St George Constituency seat for the June 23 general election, also distanced himself from the payment.

“I can clearly state that my campaign, our campaign [in] which we were unsuccessful, in no way will our records show that we have received any direct funding from any foreign donor. All our support was from ordinary persons, local businesses and even former parliamentary representatives for South St George who supported our campaign,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

“So that is the fact, and I want to repeat again that my campaign and my staff, we have not received or been in contact with any individual…. We have not been in any contact with anybody via email, phone call, anything of that sought for any financial support to my campaign,” Cox insisted.

Nicholas Steele, a former candidate for the NNP in the same constituency, also said he did not receive US$140,000 for his campaign, although he did confirm that during his 2018 election bid, there were financial contributions that required him and his office to declare the source of funds.

Grenada’s financial laws mandate that financial transactions of EC$10,000 and up deposited into an account must have a source of funds declaration.

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A 25-year-old Maloney man was shot dead and another wounded in a shooting on Wednesday afternoon.

Police said Anthony Browne was liming outside Building Six, Maloney, at around 4.45 pm, when three men got out of a silver car and shot him.

Browne ran away but collapsed nearby.

The men also shot another man, who was walking towards his own car, as they drove off. Passers-by saw the shooting and took the wounded man to hospital, where he is in critical condition.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II and a district medical officer visited the area and declared Browne dead.

Crime scene investigators found six spent shells.

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