标签： Guyana

During a public appearance Saturday marking the launch of a new automotive joint venture, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali made a direct public appeal to Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman of Jamaica-headquartered hospitality giant Sandals Resorts International, to develop a luxury all-inclusive eco-tourism resort in Guyana. In his remarks, the president emphasized that local private sector stakeholders are already prepared to commit an initial $15 million in joint investment to back the project.

Ali framed the potential Guyanese venture as a historic opportunity for the Sandals brand, arguing that locating the resort in Guyana would create the brand’s top-tier eco-tourism destination that no competing property could match. “You will be doing your brand a great disservice if you don’t draw on the bold capacity I know your brand carries to make the best possible investment decision Sandals has ever made,” Ali said during the event. “That decision is to work with our private sector as partners in creating Sandals’ number one eco destination, all-inclusive resort here in Guyana. I can assure you that none will come close to you.”

The meeting came ahead of the official opening of CAMS Motors, a new automotive dealership that operates as a joint venture involving Stewart’s ATL Group, the parent company of ATL Automotive. Stewart confirmed during the event that Ali has actively lobbied for Sandals to enter Guyana’s fast-growing hospitality sector, and while the discussions remain in early stages, he has not ruled out moving forward with the project.

“As I arrived here, we were here to sell cars, but the president reminded me that one of these days we need to build a hotel down here, and I want to follow suit,” Stewart explained. “That’s not a public service announcement just yet. It’s a ‘we love the idea of it’.”

Ali noted that the pitch to Sandals is the continuation of conversations that began roughly one year ago, when he first floated the concept of Sandals entering Guyana’s tourism market. He added that Guyana’s private sector has already demonstrated robust confidence in the country’s tourism growth trajectory, having completed construction on more than 14 new hotels across the country in recent years to accommodate rising visitor demand tied to Guyana’s expanding oil sector and growing global profile as a biodiversity and eco-tourism hotspot.

On Saturday, June 20, 2026, just 48 hours after Cuba unveiled a landmark package of market-oriented economic reforms that open the door to expanded private sector activity and increased foreign investment, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has called on the country’s domestic private sector to seize the emerging regional opportunity by building local vehicle assembly lines. Speaking at the Georgetown launch event for Chinese vehicle brands Foton and Jetour, hosted by local automotive firm CAM Motors, Ali urged the newly formed joint venture between CAM Motors, Jamaica’s ATL Automotive, the Continental Group of Companies, and Guyana-based MMKJ Inc to move forward with establishing a regional assembly hub on Guyanese soil.

Ali told attendees that he has already tasked MMKJ Inc director Vishok Persaud and his team with conducting a feasibility study to turn Guyana into a central assembly base for the growing range of new vehicle brands entering the Caribbean market. “We have the capacity to support full-scale assembly lines, and we can hit the critical market mass we need if we collaborate to scale up our regional footprint,” Ali said. “We have to look ahead – Cuba is opening its economy, and Haiti is also moving toward reopening its markets, which creates massive new demand we can meet from here.”

Beyond the newly opening Caribbean markets, Ali noted that the hub could also tap into underutilized demand in neighboring northern Brazil and the Dominican Republic, a large Spanish-speaking Caribbean economy that offers additional growth opportunities. To set the stage for these investments, he emphasized that the Guyanese government has already put in place a supportive ecosystem for manufacturing and assembly, including investor-friendly regulatory policies, competitive tax structures, low energy costs, accessible digital infrastructure, and direct government backing for new industrial projects.

Ali framed the assembly hub initiative as a core part of Guyana’s long-term economic strategy to diversify beyond its booming oil and gas sector, building a more resilient and sustainable economy that generates broad-based growth beyond the energy industry. “This is the kind of transformative project that will carry our economy past reliance on oil and gas, and move us solidly into long-term, inclusive sustainability,” he said.

Cuba’s reform package, announced by President Miguel Diaz-Canel on June 18, 2026, represents the most sweeping opening of the Cuban economy in decades, rolled out in response to years of economic pressure and mounting external challenges. As reported by Al Jazeera, the plan expands permitted private enterprise activity across multiple sectors, introduces new measures to attract foreign direct investment – including investment from Cuban nationals living abroad – paves the way for private real estate development, allows for the conversion of state-owned enterprises into privately held shareholding companies, and permits private banks to enter a financial sector that has long been exclusively state-controlled.

Persaud, the MMKJ director, confirmed that the joint venture is committed to supporting Guyana’s local content goals, beyond just building out vehicle assembly infrastructure. The partnership will not only deliver after-sales support and service for vehicle owners across the country, but also act as a domestic partner to embed local participation across the automotive supply chain. “This project lets us fully deliver on our local content legislation, expand domestic private sector participation, and ensure that Guyanese businesses get to take part in every layer of this growing industry,” Persaud said.

Ali added that shifting domestic consumer demand in Guyana already creates a strong foundation for a new vehicle assembly sector. Rising incomes have left more Guyanese with greater disposable income, driving a steady shift away from imported used Japanese vehicles toward brand-new cars and commercial vehicles. “We are already seeing a rapidly expanding market for new vehicles among both private consumers and domestic businesses, that demand is only going to grow as our economy expands,” he noted. To support this market shift, the Guyanese government already eliminated the 14 percent Value Added Tax on vehicles with engine sizes of 1500 CC and larger earlier this year, cutting purchase costs for consumers and stimulating new vehicle sales.

On June 19, 2026, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali used the official commissioning ceremony for Citizens Bank Guyana’s newly renovated Bartica branch to announce a landmark national economic initiative: the formation of the country’s first large-scale domestic gold mining consortium, uniting large, medium, and small local miners under a single Guyanese-owned entity.

Speaking to attendees at the Bartica event, President Ali emphasized that the consortium marks a strategic shift toward local control of Guyana’s critical gold sector. Rather than ceding large-scale mining opportunities to international operators, the government is supporting the unified group to acquire cutting-edge mining technology, complete required technical planning, and build a globally competitive gold company fully owned and operated by Guyanese citizens. The President added that the initiative will also expand access to financial services across the mining sector, driving deeper financial inclusion for small-scale operators who have historically been sidelined by unequal industry dynamics. He also voiced frustration over reports that larger, established mining operators have been exploiting small-scale local miners, a problem the consortium is designed to address.

The ceremony also brought announcements of expanded collaboration between the Guyanese government and Citizens Bank, one of the country’s leading financial institutions. President Ali confirmed that the bank has agreed to open a dedicated service desk at the government’s regional service center in Kamarang, to better serve residents of the Upper and Middle Mazaruni region. In turn, the government is in active negotiations to place a development bank service desk and an Electronic Identification Card processing desk at the newly commissioned Bartica branch, bringing critical public services closer to regional residents.

President Ali also provided an update on the proposed Guyanese Diaspora Bond, a financial instrument designed to give Guyanese living overseas the chance to invest in key domestic development projects including fertiliser production facilities, gas bottling plants, agricultural expansion, and national infrastructure upgrades. During a previous address on May 26, 2026, President Ali had stated the bond would launch within seven days, but no new launch timeline was shared during Friday’s event.

Eton Chester, Managing Director of Citizens Bank Guyana, used the commissioning to outline the branch’s longstanding role driving regional economic growth. First established 26 years ago in a small, cramped facility, the branch has now relocated to a purpose-built ultra-modern facility that opened to the public in April 2026. Over its 26 years of operation, the Bartica branch has disbursed more than GY$5.5 billion in loans to local individuals and businesses, financing home purchases, small business expansion, transportation fleets, mining and industrial equipment, and other productive investments across Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). Nearly GY$1.8 billion of that total lending has been issued in just the past five years alone, a trend Chester says reflects the accelerating pace of economic activity across the resource-rich region. Today, the expanded branch serves 7,000 total customers and has grown its local staff complement from 9 to 17 employees to meet rising demand for financial services.

As of Friday, June 19, 2026, Guyana’s government has formally committed to repairing severely damaged road infrastructure in key mining regions once the ongoing period of extreme heavy rainfall comes to an end, according to Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat.

In an interview with local outlet Demerara Waves Online News, Bharrat confirmed that President Irfaan Ali has already assembled a multi-agency assessment committee tasked with laying the groundwork for the upcoming repairs. The cross-ministerial working group includes representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, ensuring coordinated action across all relevant sectors.

Bharrat emphasized that large-scale repair work is unfeasible while precipitation remains heavy, telling reporters, “It’s too much to do during the rainy season but it will be fixed after the rain.”

The government’s announcement comes in direct response to an urgent public appeal from the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), which has raised alarms over the growing threat to national gold output at a time when global gold prices are at a high. The industry body reports that countless roads and navigable waterways across major gold mining zones have become completely impassable due to weeks of excessive rainfall.

While the association has not yet released a concrete numerical projection for how the poor conditions will cut into production, GGDMA Managing Director Avalon Jagnandan warned that continued bad weather and delayed road repairs will almost certainly deliver a measurable blow to output. “Miners would not be able to properly access their work grounds and get key supplies in their camps. These will certainly hinder production,” Jagnandan explained.

Beyond blocked roads, the extreme rainfall has forced numerous mining operators to shutter their camps entirely, as widespread flooding has rendered work sites completely unworkable. The GGDMA highlighted the particularly severe crisis along the Puruni River, where floodwaters have overtopped the river’s banks so extensively that the original river channel can no longer be distinguished from the surrounding floodplain. With the river expanding dramatically and carrying powerful, fast-moving currents, all pontoon crossing operations in the area have been suspended—creating even more barriers to access and bringing additional mining operations to a standstill.

On Friday, June 19, 2026, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) issued an urgent public appeal to the Guyanese government, calling for immediate repairs to heavily damaged interior access roads that serve the country’s key gold and diamond mining regions. The infrastructure damage is a direct consequence of ongoing extreme rainfall that has battered the mining heartland of the nation.

In the GGDMA’s official statement, Managing Director Avalon Jagnandan emphasized the critical need for rapid intervention from relevant government ministries and regulatory bodies. “We need authorities to help rapidly repair the damaged road infrastructure that will allow miners to access mining areas more easily,” Jagnandan said, framing the repairs as a make-or-break issue for the sector’s ongoing operations.

Shortly after the appeal was made public, Minister of Mining Vickram Bharrat responded, confirming that full repairs to the mining district road networks will commence once the severe rainfall subsides. Bharrat acknowledged the severity of the crisis, noting that the damaged infrastructure is already weighing heavily on miners and their output at a time when global gold prices are sitting at a historic all-time high. On the day of the appeal, the London Gold Fix opened with spot gold trading at $4,164.55 per ounce, creating a high-stakes window for domestic production that is currently being squandered by weather-related disruptions.

When asked whether the association had contacted the government privately before launching its public appeal, Jagnandan clarified that the crisis is an ongoing, rapidly evolving situation that demands immediate public attention, adding that the group is actively engaging with authorities to resolve the issue. While the GGDMA has not yet released a formal statistical projection for lost gold output, Jagnandan warned that continued poor weather and delayed road repairs will almost certainly drag down production levels. “Miners would not be able to properly access their work grounds and get key supplies in their camps. These will certainly hinder production,” he explained.

Beyond road damage, the unrelenting rainfall has triggered widespread flooding that has forced dozens of small and medium mining operators to shut down their camps entirely, as work sites have become completely unworkable. The situation is particularly acute along the Puruni River, where floodwaters have overtopped the river’s banks so extensively that the natural river channel is no longer distinguishable from surrounding low-lying lands. The combination of vastly expanded flood coverage and powerful fast-moving currents has forced operators to suspend all pontoon crossings in the region, cutting off access to large swathes of active mining territory and grinding operations to a halt.

In addition to its appeal for government support, the GGDMA has issued urgent safety guidance for miners still operating in flood-impacted areas, urging extra vigilance as saturated soil has become far more prone to collapse. In recent weeks, multiple mining pit collapses have been recorded across affected districts, resulting in fatalities, injuries, and extensive damage to heavy mining equipment. The association has reminded all mining operators to adhere strictly to all established safety protocols set out by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, while also advising miners to continue selling gold to the Guyana Gold Board or licensed private buyers, and maintain full, accurate records of all transactions.

The sector is facing additional strain beyond weather-related disruptions, the GGDMA confirmed: a recent spike in criminal activity across remote hinterland mining regions has eroded confidence among small, vulnerable independent miners. Over the past several months, multiple miners have been assaulted and robbed in isolated mining districts, creating further uncertainty for an industry already grappling with extreme weather challenges.