Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo have extended congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump following his victory in Tuesday’s United States presidential election.
President Ali expressed Guyana’s eagerness to build on the close diplomatic and economic ties that have long characterised relations between the two nations.
In a social media post, President Ali remarked, “I extend heartfelt congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump on his victory in Tuesday’s election in the United States. Guyana looks forward to working closely with the incoming administration to further strengthen the already-robust ties between our two nations.”
Vice President Jagdeo also shared a congratulatory message, affirming his respect for the democratic process in the US. “Congratulations to Donald J. Trump on being elected the 47th President of the United States of America,” Jagdeo stated.
Guyana and the US have had years of diplomatic relations. In recent years, Guyana has witnessed growing foreign investment from the US, particularly in the energy sector.
As a matter of fact, bilateral ties between Guyana and the US continue to expand across every facet, especially through trade relations, which have seen yet another year of exponential growth to now be over US$4 billion.
This was revealed by US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, during a reception in June to celebrate the 248th Independence Anniversary of the USA.
“Our commercial ties are deeper than ever. Just a few years ago, we traded a few hundred million US (dollars’) worth of goods, but last year we surpassed $4.6 billion US. It’s amazing,” Ambassador Theriot stated.
The US has long been Guyana’s largest trading partner, with accumulated trade of more than US$3.9 billion recorded in 2022. In fact, the US is ranked as Guyana’s number one export and import destination, with exports and imports pegged at some US$2.7 billion and US$1.2 billion respectively in 2022.
Moreover, in July 2023, it was reported that in the previous three years alone, the figure for Foreign Direct Investment from the US to Guyana stood at US$4.2 billion.
Currently, over 100 US-based companies are operating in Guyana, and according to the US Ambassador, this number is growing every day across various sectors in the Guyanese economy.
President Ali had also lauded the vast participation of the US Private Sector in various local industries, including the oil and gas, environment, infrastructure, health, tourism, hospitality and services industries. While the Head of State welcomed this participation, he sounded calls for this collaboration to be expanded as Guyana continues to open up new investment opportunities.
“We have a very open economy in which anyone can participate…We have had difficulty in the past in attracting small and medium-size businesses out of the US, because we were not a known investment destination. Today, we have to do very little lifting in presenting Guyana and the opportunities that are here. And as a result of that, we are seeing a more diversified interest from the US Private Sector, and we are seeing different tiers of companies: from the small to medium-size, large-size large-scale companies coming here,” President Ali had said at the reception.
In addition to companies directly out of the North American nation, the Guyanese Leader pointed out, even US companies operating in the region are looking to expand here – something which he noted would further propel and advance relations between the two nations.
Meanwhile, in efforts to further enhance commercial ties between Guyana and the US, President Ali had disclosed that he has coming up a series of engagements that would target big Private Sector players in the US.
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