Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali has urged Guyanese not to look at local content as a way of accelerating their growth in the local economy alone, but also in the region and beyond, The Guyana Chronicle reported on Sunday, April 21.
With Guyana’s transition, Ali said it requires an “all hands on deck” approach. While delivering his feature address at the second annual Local Content Summit at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre last Tuesday, the president underscored that the nation’s transition requires a change in “our” mindset and repositioning for growth.
“Because if we believe local content is about achieving local things or participating only in the local economy, then we will be limiting ourselves and our growth,” he said. He also highlighted that local content is aimed at building local capacity to compete anywhere else in the world while positioning local companies to be number one in the region.
“But how do we position every sector to be number one,” the head of state asked hypothetically.
Local content, Ali said, paves the way for this goal while bolstering local growth and development to meet regional and international needs.
Ali said he does not hold the view that any discussion on local content should be around what the local opportunities are, but instead how the country moves forward with what it has now.
“When you look at 2024 and compare the period between 2022 and 2024, you will see that there was a 20 percent increase in value through local participation that came to local companies,” he said. “That is an increase of US$84 million in 2024.”