Guyana’s CG to Toronto Sattie Sawh being congratulated by Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Harrinarine Nawbatt
Recently appointed Guyana Consul General to Toronto Sattie Sawh has been accredited by the Canadian government, even as government has reduced its office space, and trimmed staff at its embassy in Ottawa. The news was delivered to Guyanese residing in Toronto by Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Harrinarine Nawbatt during a trip to Canada last week.
The wife of the late Satyadeow Sawh, a former agriculture minister, has extensive experience in the diplomatic arena, and was Guyana’s trade attaché in Toronto.
The appointment has been well anticipated by the Guyanese-Canadian community in which Sawh and her two sons have long been active.
High Commissioner Nawbatt also took the opportunity to provide an update on the one year anniversary of his assumption of the high commissioner role in Canada.
Meanwhile, speaking about his own tour of duty, Nawbatt alluded to an evaluation of the needs of the Guyanese-Canadian diaspora across the far flung regions of Canada, west of Ontario and the concurrent completion of a review of the foreign missions’ workflow, and changes arising from recent developments in passport technology.
He said new security regulations require that all passports be machine readable by 2013. Passport applications taken by foreign missions are now being forwarded to Guyana where they are processed and issued. The procedure has a turnaround time of eight to 12 weeks. With the deadline for machine readable compliance looming, all Guyanese with the older style passports are being encouraged to initiate the process to get new passports.
Trim staff
The findings of the reviews along with consultations with the Foreign Affairs Ministry resulted in decisions by the government to realign some duties between Ottawa and Toronto. This has allowed the high commission in Ottawa to give up some office space that would no longer be required and to reduce staffing, moves that provide some offset to addressing better representation across widely spaced regions by appointing Guyana consular representatives in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
High Commissioner Nawbatt noted that the deployment of consular representatives reflects the importance the administration places on the Guyanese diaspora in Canada, and the clear need for more local consular representation in designated areas.
Other initiatives by the administration include the establishment of a Diaspora Representative Desk, staffed by a senior official in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
A meeting of overseas heads of missions is scheduled for July in Guyana to come up with solutions to better serve the diaspora on issues such as remigration, collection of pensions, birth certificates, property transfers, volunteering in Guyana, and other matters.
The high commissioner noted that one of his first priorities on taking office was to get out and meet as many Guyanese-Canadians across Canada as possible. He was very impressed by the commitment to Guyana that many still hold, and the charitable works and volunteering that many Guyanese organisations and individuals undertake to give something back to their home country.
He was most impressed with a Guyanese organisation in Calgary, which with the help of provincial funding, has bought their own building with facilities to support the organisation’s activities. The high commissioner said he is encouraging other Guyanese organisations to look into the possibility of taking similar action.
Increased trade
Another of Nawbatt’s areas of priority is facilitating increased trade and investment between Canada and Guyana.
Last month, Guyana fielded a very successful delegation to the PDAC International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange, the largest mining convention in the world. Canadian companies are significant investors in Guyana’s extractive industry.
Nawbatt said that Guyana would also like to see the type of investment mining that extended into non-traditional areas such as agriculture. The country has vast agricultural lands primed for investment. And the large overseas Guyanese population presents a ready market for items such as good cassareep, mangoes, peppers and fish, not to mention rum and other manufactured products.
To this end, the high commissioner is also working on building awareness of the range of products Guyana has available for export. He is inviting Canadian companies and Guyanese-Canadian principals in particular to GuyExpo which runs from September 27 to 30 in Guyana, and to the 13th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism which Guyana hosts on April 15 to 18. Here participants can acquire a firsthand experience of ecotourism niche area, in which Guyana is enjoying growing success.
Other areas open for investment are housing development and construction, which are a highly visible major achievement in Guyana.
There is as well a growing call centre business. English as a first language gives Guyana a huge edge over India or Mexico for call centres as communication costs decline. The high commissioner thanked Guyanese-Canadians for the help and friendship they have shown him personally, and the Guyanese individuals and organisations from diverse fields which have been donating and volunteering to Guyana. This has been a big help in filling gaps especially in technology, the medical field and education.
On a side note, he used the opportunity to clear up a misconception in some quarters that Canadians require visas to travel to Guyana, pointing out that the same applies to Americans, British, and Caricom nationals. In fact, nationals from some 54 countries do not require visas to enter Guyana. The full list of exempt countries is available on the Toronto Consulate’s website.
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