Last Updated on Sunday, 15 July 2018, 15:18 by Denis Chabrol
Canada-based CGX Energy Inc., a public company trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has announced its leading sponsorship of the upcoming Green Guyana Expo and International Business Summit scheduled for the Ramada Princess Hotel and the National Stadium on October 19-22, 2018.
Company Executive Chairman, Guyanese Professor Suresh Narine, committed the company to the highest sponsorship level; Executive Sponsor with the Jaguar Package, for the event which aims at promoting Guyana’s Green Economy, highlighting and educating the Guyanese populace to business opportunities which could be derived from a Green State.
The Company would be the first major international contributor to the event being organized by the African Business Roundtable (ABR) in partnership with the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of the Environment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Business, the Ministry of Communities, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the University of Guyana’s School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI). Strategic Partners for the Green Guyana Expo and Summit include the United Nations Environment Programme, the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), the Office of Climate Change, the Guyana Energy Agency of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the World Wildlife Federation, Conservation International and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology. The Small Business Bureau and EMPRETEC are also involved.
President David Granger is expected to declare open the mid October event. Dozens of local and international companies have already signaled plans to attend and participate in both the Green Expo and the International Business Summit.
Announcing the corporate sponsorship and contribution to the event, Professor Suresh Narine said that while the company has been focused on offshore oil and gas exploration activities in Guyana over the past 20 years, “we firmly endorse and support the strategic position that revenues from the extractive industries should be exploited to capitalize Green, Sustainable Economic Development. This is the only viable means through which the quality of life for Guyanese can be lifted to a high standard over a sustained time frame which far outlasts the finite resource that is Oil and Gas,” the CGX Chairman said.
Dr. Narine is also Director of Guyana’s Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) at Turkeyen on the East Coast, and a Professor of Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry at Trent University. He has also held the Ontario Research Chair in Green Chemistry and Engineering and is the Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Chair in Lipid Derived Biomaterials, aimed at the development of high value green sustainable materials.
Professor Narine today issued an encouragement to other major companies, particularly in the extractive sectors, to tangibly demonstrate their commitment to Guyana, Green Growth and Development, by joining CGX as Executive Sponsors of this seminal event.
The Government vision by the year 2030 is to create “ A Green , Inclusive and Prosperous Guyana that provides a good quality of life for all its citizens based on a sound education and social protection, low-carbon resilient development, green and decent jobs, economic opportunities, individual equality, justice, and political empowerment. Guyana serves as a model of sustainable development and environmental security worldwide, demonstrating the transition to a decarbonized and resource efficient economy that values and integrates the multi-ethnicity of our country and enhances the quality of life for all Guyanese”.