Finance Minister meets UN’s Deputy Secretary-General

Apr 28, 2023 News

…talks up CARICOM’s food security strategy and Guyana’s LCDS at Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean Forum

Kaieteur News – Senior Finance Minister, Dr Ashni K. Singh on Wednesday met the United Nation’s Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Amina J. Mohammed, in Santiago, Chile. Dr Singh is in Chile for the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development currently underway there.

Senior Finance Minister Dr Ashni K. Singh and United Nation’s Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Amina J. Mohammed, in Santiago, Chile.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Dr Singh during discussions with the DSG, updated the DSG on the economic developments and prospects in Guyana. Minister Singh also reaffirmed government’s commitment to advance implementation of Agenda 2030 aimed at achieving the SDGs, notwithstanding the challenging global economic context.

Meanwhile, during his presentation as part of the panel which addressed ‘Strategies to Advance Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean’, the Finance Minister highlighted two pertinent strategies to advance the national and sub-regional agenda in a manner fully consistent with Agenda 2030, namely CARICOM’s ‘25 by 2025’ food security strategy being spearheaded by Guyana as well as its second-generation Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which is a successor to the first LCDS.

“Guyana has demonstrated intellectual leadership and global advocacy in climate action. The Low Carbon Development Strategy sought to transition its development along a low carbon development trajectory, while simultaneously combatting climate change. In 2022, a major milestone was achieved for Guyana and forest countries in the world in the achievement of that vision – when the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions Secretariat issued the world’s first jurisdiction-scale, market-ready carbon credits to Guyana. In total, almost 33.5 million credits were issued for the period 2016-2020, one of the biggest issuances of carbon anywhere in the world,” the Ministry said in a press release on Thursday.

The statement also references the sale of a “significant percentage of Guyana’s ART-TREES credits”. Under the agreement, Hess Corporation will buy 2.5 million credits per year for 2016 to 2030 to a total of 37.5 million credits for a minimum payment of US$750 million to be paid to Guyana between 2022 and 2032.

Additionally, Guyana also holds the portfolio for responsibility for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in CARICOM, and is spearheading the regional efforts of reducing its food import bill. The strategy outlines specific actions that are required by each state in achieving the 25 by 2025 goal of reducing CARICOM’s food import bill by 25 percent by 2025.

The press statement noted that Guyana is amongst the fastest growing economies in the world, with growth of 62.3 percent recorded last year and medium-term average annual growth projected at 25 percent for the period 2023 to 2026.

“It is now considered as a premier investment destination, attractive for investment in the oil and gas sector, infrastructure and the requisite support services,” the Ministry of Finance said while noting that the Government of Guyana prioritises the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its efforts to secure broad-based economic development, which is demonstrated in successive national budgets in recent years that are in close alignment with Agenda 2030 and national priorities.

While meeting with the UN Deputy Secretary General, Dr Singh also used the opportunity to advocate for continued attention to the challenges being faced by the smallest and most vulnerable member states of the UN, particularly the small islands of the Caribbean.

Ms. Amina Mohamed first joined the United Nations in 2012 and led the process that resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Dr Ashni K. Singh, Finance Minister, United Nation

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