Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat
The minister was at the time delivering remarks at an event hosted by the Canada-Guyana Chamber of Commerce held at the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence in Georgetown.
He was keen to note that there is an evident lack of capacity in certain key areas in the oil and gas sector, and this, is a challenge “that must be recognised.”
Without building capacity, the minister pointed out that the local content law will be “a waste of time.”
He said the Local Content law “will not be a blanket” that mandates oil companies to solely use local products.
“Let us not look at the Local Content bill as a blanket that we will hide behind and say that the oil companies must buy from us because it is not.
“Let us be competitive. Even though there is local content legislation in place, let us put it to the oil companies that Guyanese businesses are competitive in both quality and price so it justifies them doing business with Guyanese and Guyanese companies,” Minister Bharrat contended.
On that note, he called for greater partnership in the private sector to encourage capacity building. He said too that the time has come for Guyanese businesses competing against each other to end.
“The oil and gas business is big money business… so if we go at it alone, more than likely we will not be able to compete regionally and internationally and this is why we need to come together,” he stated.
The government has consulted heavily with the private sector on the draft local content bill.
