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The EITI Board temporarily suspended Guyana on 1 February 2023 for failing to publish its 2020 EITI Report.

In accordance with the EITI Standard, it was agreed that the suspension would be lifted if the EITI Board is satisfied that the outstanding EITI Report was published within six months of the deadline.

“The Secretariat can confirm that Guyana published its 2020 EITI Report on 30 June 2023. Thus, the condition for lifting the suspension has been met,” EITI said.

fareeza@newsroom.gy

Braving heavy rainfall on Tuesday morning, President Dr Irfaan Ali joined other Heads of CARICOM in a tree-planting exercise as part of CARICOM’s 50th-anniversary celebrations.

The event took place at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre in Trinidad – the same place where the Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed exactly 50 years ago on July 4, 1973.

The Caribbean leaders also signed and placed a letter in a ‘time capsule’ for future leaders to open and read in the next 50 years. The event was attended by other foreign officials, including China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunying and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Han Duck-soo.

At the flag-raising ceremony, the new Chairman of CARICOM, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, urged CARICOM heads not to falter in their drive to make CARICOM stronger.

President Dr Irfaan Ali joined other Heads of CARICOM in a tree-planting exercise as part of CARICOM’s 50th-anniversary celebrations (Photo: Office of the President/ Latchman Singh/ July 4, 2023)

“I believe we are living in a more difficult world now than 50 years ago… and this requires us to be even more united in purpose. There are too many injustices that have been meted out to us as CARICOM,” he said.

Some of those issues he alluded to include climate change.

“And sometimes we feel like giving up; we feel like not going to COP conferences (United Nations Climate Change Conference), but we must never relent on our fight against an injustice… we have to look even deeper within ourselves to continue that noble fight of ensuring that the developed world does what is just and right where we are concerned with regards to climate change.”

The Prime Minister said he is “confident and comforted” to know that CARICOM remains united in its “vision” and “commitment to fight the good fight.”

He said the celebration is a time for reflection and planning for the next 50 years “to secure a solid future for our young people.”

Caribbean leaders also signed and placed a letter in a ‘time capsule’ for future leaders to open and read in the next 50 years (Photo: Office of the President/ Latchman Singh/ July 4, 2023)

“Our young people are leaders of today and tomorrow and we have to ensure they play their part today.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley highlighted the plethora of challenges being faced by CARICOM, including its own limitations but he too noted, “We are stronger together.”

“As we take stock of the last 50 years and look with anticipation towards the next 50, let us do so knowing that whatever divides us will never be bigger than that what unites us. We will always be stronger together than we are apart.

“Let us go towards the future, confident in our strengths, cognizant of our weaknesses, and determined to strive through both towards success,” Dr. Rowley said.

The event took place as CARICOM holds its 45th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

 Hess Corporation was the first company to buy into this scheme. This deal was signed in December last year, just one day after Guyana got special carbon credits issued to it. Hess bought about 30 per cent of Guyana’s carbon credits, essentially paying the country money to keep its forests intact.

But that was a voluntary arrangement. Jagdeo says Guyana is now keen on selling these carbon credits on the global compliance market.

“We’re exploring the other interests; we are exploring some compliance markets now and what it takes to get into those compliance markets.

“There may be some additional things required,” the Vice President said.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on March 6.Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg

He, however, emphasised that the country is in no rush to sell 70 per cent of credits. The focus is now on revising national targets to phase out the use of harmful fossil fuels and working on reforesting areas that have been mined out.

A carbon credit is a kind of tradable permit or certificate that represents the removal of a certain amount of carbon dioxide from the environment. Guyana’s trees hold over 19 gigatonnes of carbon and the country has argued that it should be paid for keeping all of that carbon out of the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is said to be the principal greenhouse gas that harms the environment, it is tracked and traded like any other commodity, and hence the name carbon market.

And there are two types of markets for these credits: the voluntary and compliance market.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), compliance markets are created because of regulatory requirements.

In some cases, these markets require emitters (for example, companies) to pay for those permits if they pollute the environment with too many harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

The voluntary market, as its name suggests, allows emitters to freely purchase these credits in an attempt to offset their emissions.

Earlier this year, at the International Energy Conference and Expo, the Vice President said if companies or countries are forced to pay for forest-saving efforts, this small South American nation could possibly earn about US$5 billion

Residents of Laing Avenue and Yarrow Dam in Georgetown have been urged by government officials to form a committee to oversee the enrollment of persons into government-funded training programmes.

Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton accompanied Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Minister with Responsibility for Public Affairs Kwame McCoy and the Director of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning Dr. Jacob Opadeyi to engage residents in the area on Monday.

While addressing the residents, the Labour Minister said that there are 84 programmes, free of cost, under the Ministry’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT). Hamilton explained that these courses cater to all sorts of skills for women and men of varying ages.

“We look to the community to recommend a trainer so that when we are paying somebody, we are paying somebody from the community,” the Labour Minister said.

The residents were told that the training can begin in the next two weeks.

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton at the head table for the outreach.

Meanwhile, Dr. Opadeyi urged the teachers in the area to take up scholarships under the GOAL programme and a new programme offered by the University of the West Indies to teach children to read.

“We are doing a programme to educate in the teaching of reading and it’s because most of our children in school cannot read and teachers cannot teach them how to read, so this July- August, we are going to train 15,000 teachers on how to teach children how to read,” the GOAL Director said.

There are over 182 areas of studies including Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Digital Marketing and E-Commerce, Joinery & Cabinet Making, Garment Construction, Photography, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Event Planning, Healthcare and Agricultural Technology. There are an estimated 13 universities that are partnering with Guyana on GOAL. Dr. Opadeyi encouraged the residents to use the same committee to maintain a relationship with GOAL to find the best fitted programmes for residents.

He said the programmes works with persons to get them certified for another programme if they are not yet eligible for certain degree programmes.

sent to the DPP on June 22, was returned to the Police on Wednesday last; the News Room understands that the DPP did not indicate any specific areas in the case that warrant further probe.

The rape allegation which first surfaced two weeks ago on social media, has sparked public outrage with calls for Dharamlall to resign.

The politician proceeded on administrative leave on June 18 in light of the allegations that he raped a 16-year-old schoolgirl in December 2022.

Dharamlall was arrested on June 19 and subsequently released on $1 million station bail.

On Tuesday, the Office of the DPP, in a press statement, said that due legal attention is being given to the case file.

The DPP pointed out that all statements and evidence must be considered before legal advice is given on whether the politician should be charged with rape.

On Tuesday, President Dr. Irfaan Ali said any decision about the potential dismissal of Dharamlall will only be made once the independent investigation into the rape allegations is completed.

Goal Scorers for Charity Secondary from left; Navin Williams (2) Dwayne Williams (1) Dundra Sobers (1) Nickoloyd Marks (1) (Photo: Azizi Christiani/News Room Inc./2023)

Charity Secondary struck first in the 10th minute when Navin Williams found the back of the net, giving the defending champions an early lead. However, 8th of May Secondary swiftly responded with Deangalo Davidson equalizing from the penalty spot just five minutes later. The game remained tightly contested until the 25th minute when Leon Farrel headed home a goal, putting Eight of May in the lead.

The first half ended with a scoreline of 2-2, as Dwayne Williams of Charity Secondary restored parity with a goal in the 28th minute. As the second half commenced, Dumdra Sobers of Charity Secondary quickly regained the lead for his team, scoring in the 53rd minute. 8th of May Secondary, determined to stay in the game, equalized once again through Deangalo Davidson’s second penalty, which found the back of the net in the 48th minute.

Charity Secondary showcased their championship pedigree as Navin Williams scored a sensational goal in the 57th minute, reclaiming control of the match. Not content with just one goal, Nickloyd Marks of Charity Secondary netted a brace in the 68th minute, securing a 5-3 victory for the defending champions and confirming their place in the semi-finals.

With their respective triumphs, Anna Regina Secondary and Charity Secondary have paved their way into the semi-finals, where they will face each other and strive to claim a spot in the finals to win the coveted championship title. The upcoming matches promise to deliver more thrilling football action as the journey to glory continues for these talented teams.

Abram Zuil Secondary will take on Aurora Secondary in match one tomorrow, 4 July 2023, at 13:00hrs while Johanna Cecelia Secondary is scheduled to face Cotton field Secondary at 15:00hrs at the Tapakuma Sports Club Ground.