GUATEMALA INTERESTED IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO’S GAS

Port of Spain, August 22- Guatemala is interested in this country’s natural gas for the production of electricity as costs in Guatemala are high and not competitive in the international arena.

“We would like the opportunity to lower our energy costs, which is quite high at this point in time and would like to offer our manufacturers and all industries in general to possibly lower costs,” explained Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Luis Fernando Carrera during an interview at the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) office on Sweet Briar Road, St Clair last week.

Carrera was speaking to reporters after an official bi-lateral visit between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Ministries of Energy of Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala on August 13. The discussions, according to Carrera, was a follow up on investment conversations held earlier this year.

“We signed four different agreements which refer to the political, cultural and economic relations between the two countries which are more like a legal framework, a formality rather than a plan for a specific result that we want to achieve,” he noted.

Carrera said during the meeting they discussed the political relationship between the countries, ways to find drivers of the relationship between the Caribbean and Central America, as well as the possibility of a visit by local investors to Guatemala.

He stated that Guatemala is the largest economy in Central America while Trinidad and Tobago could be described as a hub of the Eastern Caribbean. Therefore a relationship between the two countries would also benefit the region because of other existing economic relations.

Carrera also remarked that Guatemala has a large manufacturing industry including food, beverages, and other basic goods. A relationship with Guatemala would offer this country access to the market itself, and the possibility for increased export.

Noting that Guatemalan company, CBC, is a major investor in Pepsi Corporation and Blue Waters in Trinidad, Carrera believed it would be interesting for Guatemalan investors be more aware of investment opportunities here in Trinidad, including joint ventures. He added that, while there are no large local investments in Guatemala, there are some investors in construction companies, electricity production and a few areas of manufacturing.

In addition, Carrera hoped to explore a triangular relationship with Mexico, Guatemala and TT, and intends to raise the issue of creating a stronger alliance between the three countries at a binational meeting. “We will see that that relationship, that expansion with the market that exists between Guatemala and Southern Mexico may also provide opportunities of business, particularly in the area of energy for Trinidad,” he said.

He believed it would be an opportunity for this country to access to the Southern Mexico and Central American markets, which would lead to market and political opportunities with respect to common political interests in the multi-lateral situation in the Organisation of American States (OAS), Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and CARICOM.

“For Guatemala it is very important that we have an expanding market that is increasingly integrated with Southern Mexico,” he said. “We share together with Mexico the vision that there are great opportunities in the Caribbean that the ACS make possible and helped develop in the areas of tourism, transportation logistics, trade, customs, and more. For us (the ACS) is a very important institution. It’s a form where we can talk with our partners and friends in the CARICOM area and together with Mexico we are convinced we need to have more integration,” he stated.

Carrera also spoke on the topic of the decriminalisation of drugs, which he said, Guatemala supports. He believes it is important that discussions be held to find more effective, less violent solutions of dealing with the issue of illegal drugs, which he said, creates security problems for the population.

“The problem of drugs is a health problem. Which is something we have been dealing with in a very narrow way in the last ten to 20 years in the US, and we think the context of the Organisation of the American States would want to support the idea of decimalisation of drug consumption and more involvement on the health issue,” said Carrera. He stated that Colombia stopped the drug cartels and that Guatemala was doing so as well, which was how they were winning the war on drugs. He emphasised that the flow of drugs could not be stopped because there is a great demand, but legalising certain drugs could make the flow more manageable.

“The point is we can manage it without getting organised crime involved. Whenever we say a product, which has natural demand, is prohibited, is forbidden to be traded, we create a black market. By creating black markets we stimulate organised crime and that is a problem,” he concluded.

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