Georgetown- There is a vast untapped potential in the Guyanese Diaspora, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry will be moving to take advantage of this fact, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge. During a recent interview, the minister pointed out that if one views each set of Guyanese living overseas as a “basket of resources”, then the role that the Diaspora can play can be recognised and how local foreign policy might be fashioned to take advantage of it. Minister Greenidge said that the legal and institutional framework can be put in place to assist in this regard, as has been done in other countries such as Jamaica, India and Bangladesh where large communities of workers send remittances back to their native countries.
Guyana’s remittances are very high, Minister Greenidge acknowledged, but noted that it simply for the most part “goes into consumption”. He added that elsewhere that very income, serves to create more income for those who invest, and is incentive for them to return. He mentioned investment in housing which is a major need here, not merely in Georgetown, but other parts of the country.
With infrastructure absent in some places, he said that if a framework is provided to safely utilise this, more persons in the Diaspora would adopt it. In speaking about the framework, he said it is one "where people can safely put their money into Guyana, get the money here without the exorbitant cost associated with money transfers, get the money here and say invest in apartments for middle or low and middle income groups, flats, apartments, condominiums, and not find themselves once they are separated from Guyana by some space, losing their property to some con-man who sells it illegally, or a state agent who isn’t bound by any properly enforced laws." Once the negative possibilities can be negated and “They can operate in such a space, we will have taken advantage of our Diaspora.”
Minister Greenidge said that while some may ask, how come that’s foreign policy, it should be noted that some parts such as the framework, and the vision are ones for foreign policy. “In terms of putting together the legislation that stops estate agents from doing nonsense with other people’s property, that stops tenants from abusing a market, being in rented property and not paying for it and so forth, destroying it without any sanctions, we will have provided an opportunity for Guyana to take advantage of its massive Diaspora outside”.
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