GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Monday defended a country’s right to explore and secure its energy resources.
Addressing the opening of the four-day Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo, he supported Guyana’s thrust towards energy security, telling the audience to do so. Georgetown also has a right to do what it must do to harness its resources.
“Qatar’s success story in the energy field has confirmed our belief. Every nation has a right to explore and secure its energy resources,” Sheikh Mohammed said during his virtual address.
“Energy security is the backbone of economic prosperity and development…the two are interdependent and cannot be separated in any context,” he said, adding, “With proper planning, tools, and partnerships, every nation can fulfill its energy security.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar Energy is actively working with partners in every nation, including Latin America and Guyana, to develop energy resources responsibly.
“This natural resource exploitation helps secure energy security and equity for future generations and develops the host infrastructure. The world requires a robust mix of all energy resources for future populations,” he added.
Earlier, in his virtual address, Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis rejected those who seek to prevent new entrants into the global oil and gas market and offered his full support for Guyana.
“We support Guyana to fuel its industrialization on its terms with the resources the people of Guyana have been blessed with,” Prime Minister Davis said, adding, “As small states, we long recognize the need to work together given our unique vulnerabilities.
“The region has taken adversity and turned it into strength; this has enabled us to flourish,” Davis said, reiterating his support for Guyana’s transformation and modernization in recent years.
However, he noted that with the discovery and exploitation of oil and gas reserves offshore Guyana, there are new issues for consideration, including supply chain and logistics, an area up for debate and discussion during the ongoing conference.
But Prime Minister Davis said that even with the prospects for prosperity, he identified challenges and rejected those who seek to add more burden on the small developing states of the Caribbean region by blocking entrance into the oil and gas market as the world embarks on a global task to revert worldwide warming and mitigate climate change.
He commended Guyana’s long-term plan for energy production, which also includes efforts to protect and preserve the environment.
Davis acknowledged the need for all countries to show this level of responsibility, saying it was the duty of all regional leaders and citizens.
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