OREANDA-NEWS. A European Investment Bank (EIB) delegation, led by the EIB Vice President responsible for lending in the Caribbean, is visiting Guyana to explore opportunities for financing new projects in the country.

In his first visit to the country, Vice President, Pim van Ballekom and colleagues are discussing financing opportunities with senior officials, including President of Guyana, H.E. Brigadier David Granger, Governor of Central Bank, Dr Gobind Ganga and government ministers, with a view to providing loans to projects in the coming months. The European Investment Bank has historically supported investment essential for private and public sector growth in Guyana and across the Caribbean.

During his visit to Guyana, Vice President, Pim Van Ballekom visited the Port of Georgetown and discussed opportunities for financing new projects in the country. The visit follows meetings in Suriname, where further discussions took place with Surinamese officials.     

Pim Van Ballekom, EIB Vice President said: “We had fruitful discussions about future support in particular for projects both in the public and private sector in Guyana. With our diverse sector experience supporting projects across the world, we can bring technical and practical expertise to this region. We are pleased with the meetings with the Guyanese government concerning projects in the renewable energy, transport and private sector development sectors and hope that our visit would help to kick-start further investments in Guyana soon.”

President of Guyana, H.E. Brigadier David Granger said: "The Government of Guyana is happy to re-engage with the European Investment Bank largely because the agenda for Guyana’s development over the next four years requires significant investment from foreign sources, particularly in the areas of developing the green agenda, improving infrastructure, particularly through the means of developing small and micro enterprises. These are the major areas in which we had discussions and we are very confident that the European Investment Bank is going to be is going to be an important vehicle to provide credit to enable the developments to take place."