Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Guyana President Irfaan Ali and his delegation on Wednesday. Ali took the opportunity to make a case for Guyana to become a manufacturing hub for electrical vehicles (EV), saying, “We do not want Guyana only to be a selling hub for your products, we want Guyana to be an important manufacturing hub for your products.”
“We want Guyana to be a natural choice as your partner in developing your industries, in moving to manufacturing and industrial development… having electronic vehicles manufactured in Guyana…for the [Latin America and Caribbean] region,” President Ali said.
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Gong introduced the economic and social development of Shanghai and said that currently, Shanghai is deepening the construction of international economic, financial, trade, shipping, and scientific innovation centers in accordance with President Xi Jinping’s development positioning for Shanghai. Shanghai is accelerating the construction of a socialist modern international metropolis with world influence.
To prove how serious he is about the manufacturing of EVs, President Ali said his government is ready to “build a shell, to invest in a shell, to host such a facility in Guyana and to have the private sector maybe have a stake in the project.”
President Ali said he is ready to expedite this process.
Ali told the Mayor, “I am willing to commit resources to build the shell to accommodate such an investment to push development in Guyana.” The President said he is willing to designate an area as the ‘Shanghai Industrial manufacturing hub.’
Although China and Guyana are far apart, their friendship is long-lasting. As the window of China’s reform and opening up, Shanghai hopes to use the opportunity of jointly building high-quality “Belt and Road” to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Guyana.
In terms of economic and trade investment cooperation, Guyana’s participation in the China International Import Expo is warmly welcomed, and practical cooperation will be carried out in areas such as agriculture, energy, and infrastructure.
In terms of green and low-carbon development, Shanghai looks forward to learning from each other and expanding cooperation in this area.
In terms of cultural and tourism cooperation, Gong hoped to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and let more citizens appreciate Guyana’s beautiful natural landscape and diverse cultural heritage, building a bridge of friendship between the two places.
Ali said that since Guyana established diplomatic relations with China more than 50 years ago, cooperation in various fields has continued to deepen, and people’s friendship has continued to develop. Cooperation with China has promoted Guyana’s transformation and development.
Guyana has rich oil and gas resources and hopes to play a more important role in areas such as climate change, environment, food, and food safety. Guyana looks forward to deepening cooperation with Shanghai in shipbuilding, new energy vehicles, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, and culture, and welcomes Chinese investors to use Guyana as a bridge to enter the South American and Caribbean regions.
Guyana also welcomes Chinese companies to establish manufacturing factories and regional headquarters in Guyana, allowing Chinese products and services to better cover the local and surrounding markets.
