Search for investors

Region seeks private sector players to put money into air and sea services

By Emmanuel Joseph
in Georgetown, Guyana

A search is on for private sector players to invest in a regular air and sea transportation service between the Caribbean and Africa.

Guyana’s Minister of Finance Ashni Singh told a news conference on the conclusion of a two-day AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2023) at the Marriott Hotel on Tuesday that his government will provide all the incentives necessary for the private sector to provide a direct air service and better shipping links.

Responding to a question from Barbados TODAY on a possible timeframe for the introduction of a direct scheduled or regular charter flight between the Caribbean and Africa, Singh said Guyana and some other governments in the region are looking to the private sector to seize the opportunity and provide the air and maritime service.

However, he pointed out that Guyana and its sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments favoured focusing on market conditions first, as the main solution to the challenges of transatlantic trade and transportation.

“Our first preference is for a market-based solution to some of these challenges. There is a problem…between Africa and the Caribbean, both in terms of air and sea. Secondly, I know that I speak for the government of Guyana in this regard and I know I speak for most of us across the Caribbean when I say that the strong preference is for a market-based solution – one or more private sector operators, seeing the opportunity that exists, investing capital to take advantage of that opportunity and delivering the service as a private sector provider,” Minister Singh declared.

“What we would ideally like to see is a private airline seeing this opportunity and introducing the service, and/or a private shipping company seeing this opportunity and providing the service.

“We are prepared and that is a trans-continental link between Africa and the Caribbean. And even within the Caribbean, we have challenges with air continuity. You would have heard my president speak at the opening ceremony when he said we in Guyana are prepared to provide every incentive available to us to incentivise the private investor or consortium of private investors willing to put together the architecture needed…within the Caribbean – and the same applied to across the ocean,” Singh told the journalists, most of whom were from Africa.

He further revealed: “I can also say that there have been discussions, certainly between Guyana and Barbados and a number counterparts in Africa, on what we can do on the governmental side to help accelerate the realisation of this.”

For example, Singh said, they have spoken about building out a regional feeding hub.

“Right here in Guyana, we are building out a regional feeding hub which will serve the purpose of aggregating agriculture and agro-processing output for shipping purposes in the Caribbean. And I know that Prime Minister [Mia] Mottley has also been speaking about what can be done to promote shipping of agricultural produce from Barbados onward to Africa, including agricultural produce coming from Guyana and northern Brazil. So, in this conversation, it will also include northern Brazil,” he said.

The finance minister noted that Mottley had accompanied Guyana president Irfaan Ali on several trips to northern Brazil exploring opportunities for a closer and deeper relationship.

He said the leaders looked at shipping that linked northern Brazil, Guyana and Barbados, and onwards to Africa, “because volumes matter as well”. “In that regard, I want to mention that it is for that reason that Afreximbank’s [African Export/Import Bank’s] approach to this problem in collaboration with the region is very good,” Singh asserted.

He said that based on recent discussions with the chairman of the bank Professor Benedict Oramah, he is committed to supporting the “road to Brazil”.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb