Jamaica, Guyana to establish energy working group

Last Updated on Friday, 26 June 2026, 20:57 by Denis Chabrol

Guyana and Jamaica are to establish a working group on energy, in addition to already agreed cooperation in the areas of security, tourism, agriculture and financial services.

“We are committed to having a working group examine this closely to come up with recommendations and options as to how we can collaborate in the energy sector. There are some exciting ideas that we are already talking about,” President Irfaan Ali said at a joint press briefing with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness after the signing of memoranda of understanding by Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd and his Jamaican counterpart, Kamina Johnson Smith.

Mr Holness confirmed, in his remarks, that energy formed part of the discussions with the Guyanese leader.

Before coming to Guyana, the Jamaican Prime Minister told a a news conference with Suriname’s President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, after this week’s Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition (SEOGS) 2026, that the development of the hydrocarbon sector in the Caribbean creates the possibility for “the region for our own energy security” among Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. “The CARICOM regional energy security is now within reach providing, of course, that regional governments cooperate in strategic ways,” he said.

Jamaica operates a state-owned oil refinery, PetroJam, and work is ongoing to further explore for oil offshore that Caribbean island. “So far, the results of shown that there is the possibility of an active petroleum system,” Mr Holness said in Suriname.

Here in Guyana, the Jamaican Prime Minister said himself and the President of Guyana also discussed security, tourism, financial services, agriculture and housing. “It is clear that Jamaica and Guyana are very much aligned, and we have a similar outlook on the world, similar understanding of the changing dynamics and the new nature of global politics,” he said.

For his part, Dr Ali said Jamaica and Guyana have to scope their comparative advantage in areas such as infrastructure and find a “common vehicle” for the benefit of both sister CARICOM members states and the region.

Little detail was provided about the memoranda of understanding signed by the two foreign ministers, but President Ali said one of them covers security and defence cooperation between the Guyana Defence Force and the Jamaican Defence Force. He said space would be created for more JDF officers to pursue studies here. He also offered the opportunity for JDF soldiers to pursue a Masters Degree in Strategic Development at the GDF’s National Defence Institute which is linked to work at the Pentagon and Colombia.