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ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that we are able to move into the formal part of today's proceedings, we are going to begin to have to wrap this up shortly. So, I'm going to ask those of you that are still standing to please have your seats. Let's go. your attention please. Someone has misplaced their car keys. If if there is a a bag unidentified bag that is next to you, it does not belong to you. Could you please check the bags nearest to you and ensure that it is yours? If not, it belongs to

a gentleman who has misplaced his car keys. Have you found it? Please note all of the photographs will be posted online. You can access it on the president's official Facebook page. We are going to be wrapping this up, ladies and gentlemen, in just about 10 minutes so that we can move into the formal part of our proceedings. I would therefore encourage you, those of you that are still in the line at the back, um there may be an opportunity for you to engage and to take pictures with the president after the formal proceedings would have

come to an end. But for those of you that have already taken your photographs, please be seated. I am confident that you are hearing me. So I am expecting that you will respond accordingly. If you are standing around, if you're walking around, could you have your seats, please? Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. that we do have time constraints. We must conclude today's proceedings by 11:20. Therefore means that we must be please be seated. Thank you. I'm very pleased to be here once again. I want to acknowledge the mayor. I want

to acknowledge all the leaders not only from the cabinet but from the federal level here, members of parliament, local leaders, community leaders, relig religious leaders, all my elders, distinguished members of the GY community, the GY Canadian community and the Canadian GY community. I want to acknowledge all of you and welcome you to what I would consider an important forum because for us our development will be incomplete without the full participation of the members of our diaspora. After all, you're integral to the development and advancement of our country. and you all played significant role in supporting

the development of Guyana at different phases in our national transformation. Today we are fortunate to be in a position where Guyana is advancing at a pace and speed that is really creating ripples around the world. This is not the time to relax or the time to slow down. This is a time when we must even accelerate at a far greater pace. We must be able to advance our development at a not only a greater pace but with clarity on where we want to position our country globally. Today our development is not only confined to the

needs within our borders. Our development is in the context of the global economy and our ambitions are very clear. We want to position Guyana as a leader in the global economy. We want to build an economy that is competitive, that is resilient, that can withstand shocks, and one that the world can look at as a model. We are building a model for global success. We are demonstrating to the world that balance is key. Balance is important. We're going to be a strong energy provider among the best in the world whilst at the same time we

will be the leading country on environmental services, climate related services and biodiversity. For a matter of fact, we have launched the global biodiversity alliance and we already have more than 120 plus governments and international institutions signing on to that. In addition, we are now positioning Guyana to be competitive in food production, but to move from primary production to value creation and then to enter the global market as a leading provider of food. Well, all of this will be backed by a well diversified economy, one in which ecoourism, human capital development, healthc care services that are

worldclass, and education services that are world class will be foundational to the aspirations and development of our country. But none of this can truly achieve its full potential if our people, if the people of our country do not understand their individual and collective role in this process of transformation. Individual thinking and actions are a key component of national pride and prosperity. Whilst we advance an agenda to transform and beautify, it must be that every gy contribute in a patriotic nationalistic way to this development. You do not need a government to tell you how to treat

the environment. You do not You do not need a government to tell you about your responsibilities as a father, as a mother, your responsibilities to your community, your responsibilities to protecting recreational facilities, your responsibilities in the way you treat animals. Those are human aspects, human values that every one of us must uphold. So the success of Guyana and the success that we are building is not only in physical infrastructure. It is not only in better health care and better services. It is not only in beautiful buildings. It is not only in beautiful parks. It rests

heavily on the way we behave, on the way we treat each other, on the expressions of love, on the expressions of unity, on the expressions of oneness, on the foundation of faith, on the value system we support development on. Those are the things that many people will refer to as the soft component of the national architecture. In my view, they are the foundational pillars of national architecture. And if we don't fix that, if we don't fix attitude, if we don't fix behavior, if we don't fix the way we process things, then we will not be

fixing the problems in a holistic and integrated way. And I want to say to you that I know a lot of persons who are coming here today and we have built out a mechanism to address people's problem in Guyan. It's called a dashboard. Even when I'm traveling, I can see in real time every issue that is raised by any person or on any outreach by any government official. And we sent out a blast email to all those who registered for this event today. And we ask you because we want full participation to tell us what

questions you may want to ask, to tell us what issues you have, and to tell us what you would like us to address. I want to say to you that we receive close to 600 emails. 420 of those responses were about complimenting the development and sharing encouraging words. 159 of the inquiries focus on six different categories and I'll get that to you. And then we had 45 inquiries of a personal nature that is people who have land problems with their family members, land problem with their neighbors. Some people kitchen fall on some people backst step

and some people roof hanging over some people fence. So we can categorize every single one of those issues. So on in relation to the 159 10% was asking issues of how we are enhancing public trust, transparency, accountability and how we are building an inclusive Guyana. 10% focused on offering services, technological services, consultancy services. 20% was on business investment, finance and economic development. 32 concerns uh were in this category. Housing, land and property. We had 16.4%. Travel, tourism, migration and diaspora of affairs. We had uh 11.9% of the questions. Security, infrastructure and public service. we had

10.7%. Health, education and environmental services, we had 7.5%. Now this alone tells me a story. I've been coming to diaspora engagement for decades and the top issue used to be security. Today it is the last issue on the minds of those person. Guess guess what is the top issue today? How can we invest? How can we be part of the development? How can we own a home? How can we be part of the building out of Guyana? And that tells you a story. That tells you that the story of Guyana is one that is positive

and one that is transformative. And this alone, this alone tells about the different period in our history. And I have one further announcement to make. And just to let you know, all of this was generated at the touch of a button, a pie chart showing all of the issues. And then just for public accountability, all of the questions and comments sent to us by email. Everyone we went through. Some of you, if you check your phones and your email now, you'll be re receiving responses to your queries. Some of you will be receiving documents. So

by the end of today, at least 159 persons who raise an issue will receive an electronic response with advice and documentation from the government of Guyana. Since this year started from Canada, the diaspora received unit received 89 89 inquiries and out of that 89 they have processed 97% of all. So we work by data and this is what the data tells us. I'm also very pleased today that we have in this room a number of former ministers, the ACG Canada that produced a number of leading uh officials in Guyana. I see uh Jeff the Silva

is he still is he somewhere around? Uh he is in the room a former minister in the government of uh Guyana. We have members from the independence uh committee the and all the other organizations that support our development. I want to share with you an additional video and that is in relation to housing. We are building a new city. That city is called Silica City. And in that city modernity will meet tradition and tradition will be en envelope in environment. It is designed to be a city of sustainability, a city of wellness, a city of

the future. Basically, it is a city 50 years ahead of its time. We have been working with the University of Miami and other major developers and planners in the building out of this city. This is not a dream. We have already started the work in this city. The first 200 plus homes are almost completed. The fourth phase of infrastructure is completed and we have just signed on with investors from Saudi Arabia in the building out of the second phase of homes in this city. So I want you to see uh what the city will look

like so that those of you who want to own your vacation home or own your second home or invest in your home in Guyana can be part of Silica City. As you know, we are building out the infrastructure. The road network, a four-lane highway, a new four-lane highway will go all the way to the Chedden International Airport that is connected to this city. So, if they have that video, I'll just ask them to to play that video for you and you can be part of it. Do do you have it? Okay. We are presenting the

completed planning model of the silica city. You will see during the course of this video what you will get in Silica City. A city that is sustainable and resilient. A city that is naturally beautiful. A city that is modern and innovative. A city that is in advance of its time. A city that will be built for a 100red years ahead. A city that will bring tremendous interest and position Guyana as one of the most sustainable stories in urban development. Imagine if our cities were transformed to be in harmony with nature. Silica City is an international

symbol of resiliency, capturing Gana's transformative journey from adversity to affluence. A new sustainable, climate resilient, servicesoriented city that provides services, amenities and attracts new investment opportunities and private sector innovations. Silica City represents the will of the people from Guyana which allowed us to complete this dream. And today we are well on the journey of delivering the dream of Silica City, making Silica City a reality. So that is Silica City. The visuals give you an understanding, a better understanding as to what we are planning. and we want at least 25% of this city to be dedicated

to meeting the needs of the diaspora. So here is your opportunity. There is your opportunity. We also I also wanted I don't know how much how many of you came in in time to see the physical changes and transformation over the last three and a half years. And I'll ask them to share that video with you. So you can just have a look at the physical changes and transformation uh taking place in our country. Many of you know that we just completed the new uh bar Jack dear river bridge and you are you know blown

away by that bridge. But many of you did not see that we are also nearing completion of the Wisma river bridge. You did not see that we have completed the hope bridge. We have completed more than 42 bridges linking Guyana to Brazil, major international standard bridges. We have completed 17 bridges and and working on another 45 on the new alignment between Skunard and Puerto Rica going all the way uh what what as as what was known as the Delconte road uh road connecting all of the regions and bringing the interior closer to the coast. But

just for you to have a a flavor of what is happening, I'll ask them if they can present that video. Heat. Heat. Just watch. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. So that's that's your country. That's our country. That is the process that is unfolding before us. Most of that in the last four years and the file next five years will be moving as a much more rapid speed and pace than you'd have seen there. You know, point to one economy that in three years provided or produced

14 internationally branded hotels either completed or under construction. 60,000 new house lots and opportunities open up for ordinary gy. There was a time when the average age of home ownership was in your late 60s. You had no dream of owning your own homes. Today the average age of home ownership is below 35 and in most cases in most regions below 25. The lowest interest rate for housing in the region and perhaps most competitive globally. These are the things that are ongoing. But yes, you can also look at social media and see persons who are interested

in identifying some of the challenges that still exist. And in every society, there are challenges that still exist. I can show you a thousand new roads and I can show you five potholes. That is why the work of development and the process of development is ongoing. But it is in your determination to determine whether the glass is half full or half empty. Do we have the answers for all the questions and challenges we face in the world today? None of us can say we have it. For a matter of fact, the world is changing at

such a pace and with such significance that every 5 minutes there is a global shock. Every 5 minutes we have to be able to function in this global environment. We have to be able to survive in this global environment. That is why you see in this video the focus is broad-based. It's on modernity but still heavily focused on environment sustainability, diversification, economic diversification and building out a system that is reflective of the growth and development and aspirations of our people. But central to all of that is culture, people, the arts, traditions, and values. Those are

elements of our development that we must be able not only to keep, but to build, to make stronger because our culture and our art are an important part of our economy. There's an economic value to that and that is why today we are building out the orange economy. You will see right here in Toronto in September Guyana playing a big role or Guyana being part of the TIFF the Canadian film festival. We'll have a massive showing there because we are taking a strategic decision to uh collaborate with the tiff uh officials and the organization to

help us build out that orange economy. And from the time we had those meetings, what what I saw was a stream of messages coming my way about gy here in Canada who are already game changers in this industry. And we will be reaching out to all of you to be part of the building out of our film industry and our economy in Guyana. So we want Guyana to be seen, to be heard, to be felt. We want Guyana to be experienced in every space. Only yesterday I had a very successful meeting with your prime minister

and in that meeting we discussed a reset on how we can develop the new framework for cooperation between Guyana and Canada. our new priorities, our new realities and how we can accelerate the interests of Guyana and Canada in a development construct that is proactive and one in which bureaucracy does not hinder the opportunities that are ahead of us. And I must say that it was an exciting meeting and a very forward-looking meeting. And you will see the outcome of that meeting. You will see the results of that meeting unfolding in the coming days, days, weeks

and months ahead of us. So I believe today that we can all be part of this story. We can be part of this story by playing a role, by positive messaging, by promoting Guyana. But importantly, we know too that you want to also benefit from the transformation. I know many of you continuously ask about how you register in the old age pension program because it makes sense to register now, right? And it's non-contributo. As a matter of fact, we have had massive registration uh from people in the diaspora and then many of you want the

same speed of the dashboard to be applied to cash grants. But development is incremental. Okay. One of the things that we have to guard against is how we balloon the current expenditure because if you balloon the current expenditure then you will have difficulties in the future. Our major investment must be in growth oriented projects and programs. It must be in creating new opportunities, new areas of wealth creation, adding net value to families and creating uh greater uh access to capital and business opportunities. That is why infrastructure that will open hundreds of thousands of acreage of

land for agriculture, housing, industrial development, manufacturing, building out modern infrastructure that increases the value of property so that you can leverage that liquidity and and grow new businesses, build new enterprises. Those are the things uh and the focus of the investment. So let me say I don't know how many of you also would have gone back to Guyana recently. Let's say compare four years ago to going back today. You will see that we have made tremendous improvement in the immigration services. The speed at which you clear through the immigration and that has changed tremendously. But

then you will tell me that uh we have a second bottleneck and that is the speed at which customs operate and we are fixing that now. So we are bringing in uh AI back scanners um where the we are removing the human interface and we're putting technology is the force interface and we're going to change and amend the laws so that uh we give you the opportunity to self declare and if you lie in that self declaration in the first instance you will pay a fine in the second instance you'll pay a higher fine and

the third instance you'll experience the luxury of jail. So uh so it's a very efficient system we're building very very efficient system because we don't want lines. We we uh you know upgraded the airport. The airport process 800 persons per hour. That's the capacity now. And we have already outgrown it. That is why we've already started terminal 2. And terminal 2 will be the most beautiful terminal in all of the region. Trust me, it's going to be amazing. And terminal 2 is going to allow us to process from 800 to 3,200 passengers every hour. So

uh so the the efficiency that we're building uh in another maybe two or 3 weeks you will see our immigration the forms that you have to fill up that form will be completely replaced and the you will you can do it digitally and it'll be a very very short version of the form no longer essay writing. Uh we're removing that essay writing uh from from those forms. You will also see that uh the reporting mechanism the the the camera system one of the things that we are doing is to remove human biases. So you will

see that in the last uh 6 to 8 months we have uh issued uh thousands tens of thousands of traffic tickets on some of the highways that we already place the smart cameras and all of those tickets were issued electronically in real time. In real time. For a matter of fact, uh, one guy told me the ticket went to the wrong phone because when he registered when he registered his vehicle, he registered it with his wife phone number and he had more problems than a ticket because he was on the wrong road at the wrong

time. So this this system is is very effective, very efficient. So we encourage all the women to ensure you give them give us your phone number two you'll get information it's not it so uh the the removal of that human interface and importantly we have now about 55% electronic uh uh payment of the tickets so people can actually use their phone right there and pay the ticket using different payment system we are now working on a national payment platform, a national payment system as you saw in the video that will include a digital wallet and

the ability to transact business electronically. So you can sit in your bed and you can transfer you can have sitting on bed the bed with your wife and transfer uh money from your account to her account efficiently and effectively. All right. Or you can have account shared. All right, real time information. Right Jerry Gavaya. So we are in this phase where technology innovation is the driving force of leaprogging Guyana because we cannot build a country at the speed at which we want to build a country if we are not able to leapfrog the country. We

have to get ahead at the fastest in the fastest time where our competitors are. We have to get ahead to where our competitors are and that is where a lot of the investment you saw all the new hospitals the amazing uh development in the health sector for I give you one example in Lem uh three years ago every serious case in Lem and this is thousands of persons where you had to have serious medical intervention. We had to transfer you to Brazil or medivvac you out to Georgetown. Our medivvac rate now because of the investment

we place in the Let Hospital came down from mid 90% to less than 2%. To less than 2%. But you want to hear the best part of the story? Today we are providing services for Brazilians who are coming to the Let them hospital. The traffic has changed coming into Guyana. These are the things that we are doing. You know, yesterday I met someone at the mosque and they said, "Mr. President, I should have come to Guyana for the vaccine. Apparently, you have to get some vaccine to go to Hajj." And in Guyana, we give that

free of cost. And here you pay between 4 to 600 Canadian. We give it free of cost. Dialysis, we give people a check every year to support dialysis care. And we're building out uh the this program to make public access to diialysis even greater. We're now building out a biofarma industry where uh we'll be producing our own liquids, moving towards producing vaccines for ourselves and the rest of the Caribbean. That is where we're taking medicine beyond the hospital, building out an entire ecosystem to support this. And we are proactively looking at medicine by collecting data

and investing in public health education, primary health care, targeting people who need to change their lifestyle, pushing people to do more testing, more lab work so that we can have greater intervention, 100% support from testing to treatment for cvical cancer. We're moving now to prostate cancer program where we are bringing in uh celebrities to help us first educate men on the importance of having their checkup and then providing a mechanism for that checkup and treatment where necessary. That is where we are taking medicine. Building a modern cardiac uh you know support system and the development

of our uh health sector is powered by uh partnership with Mount Sinai and Northwell and also from Apollo Hospital in India. So there is where the technical expertise, the knowledge transfer, the technology and all of these things that is where it's built in. For a matter of fact, we're now building out an emergency management system for health care, a patient management information system, a health care management information system. And I know a few persons here who came back to visit their relatives recently in one of in the new hospitals that we have built and they

can tell you about the level of service. They can tell you about the efficiency of service and they can tell you about the equipment and the technology and the modernity that we have at these hospitals that are across all the regions and we are building a number of other such hospitals to support worldclass health care in Guyana. worldclass healthcare and that is why and that is why we're seeing structural changes in the way people approach uh health care and the level of access to health care. But you know with every level of service additional level

of service you give there'll be additional demand for that service and that also create its own bottlenecks. As we celebrate our 60th anniversary this year, you will see an amazing announcement that will shock you and shock the world maybe because we are about to do something that most developed country has not done as yet. We are about to leapfrog, cardiac, healthc care and robotics in a way unimaginable. Unimaginable. and you will look out for that announcement and you will uh you will be very pleased to know where Guyana is heading. So let me express my

sincere gratitude to all of you who have taken the time to come out and be part of this diaspora engagement. I know that many of you have busy schedules, family obligations, professional commitments, and countless demands on your time. Yet, you choose to be here this morning. Because despite the miles that separate you from home, Ghana still lives deeply in your hearts. That commitment to country, that continuing connection to your homeland is something that deserves recognition and appreciation. I also wish to extend special thanks the consulate general and the entire team of support here uh for

the for arranging and facilitating this engagement. Mr. Tony White from the Guyana Energy Conference and all the other stakeholders who supported this engagement. I ask you to give them a huge round of applause. I want to thank our sponsors. Many of our sponsors are in the room. I also wish to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who would have worked tremendously hard and added one good word or one positive sentence or a few sentences. Go you went on social media and you gave one positive contribution that allowed my re-election and the election of the

People's Progressive Party Civic Government. I thank you sincerely. I thank you because you are part of making the right choices and right decisions. You're part of influencing the right choices and the right decision. And to those of you who may not have supported, those of you who may still have unanswered question, we hope with a clear conscience that the coming years would allow you to make a decision that allows your conscience to rest in peace and allow your conscience to freely experience the sweetness of development and progress under this government. I want to say that

the next four years of my life will be spent not only on developing our country but realizing the dream of 1950. The dream of 1950 when a political entity was developed and that political entity was developed not only to achieve freedom and independence. It was developed to allow our country to aspire to its goals in a unified way in in a total way. We know that external forces you know influence internal forces and a split occurred in 1953. A split occurred that fractured our society. I hope and I dream that we will get back to

1950 and under the umbrella of the People's Progressive Party and one Guyana, we will bring everyone back to the table. We'll create the space in which all of us as gy will embrace a common framework, a common philosophy and a common drive towards a development and a country that will be prosperous, enabling and fulfilling for every single gy and that for me is the hardest task ahead of us. 60 years of independence, 60 years of struggle, 60 years of political history, 60 years of experience. Now is the time to dig deep, to reach far, to

enable, to work and lead with our hearts, to think and move with our brains. This is not the time for any divisive policy. This is that moment in time when love, tolerance, patience must be foundation to the philosophy that builds our country. This is a time like the Amazon warriors give us either collective joy or collective pain. They will give us the collective joy of getting to the final and then they drop us like a time bomb. Boom. But this is a time just as we go in the stadium and we wave our flags and

we embrace each other and we fight the world to let them know that it is chicken curry and not curry chicken. That same passion, that same love, that same desire, that same patriotism, that same national instinct, that same collective ownership, collective responsibility, that same collective pride must be what we take forward after 60 years of independence. We have been blessed by the creator. We have been blessed. How do we express our thanks to this blessing? How do we express our gratitude to this land that was given to us with all of the opportunities and the

potential? The potential is dead without work. As Reverend Gilbart would tell you, faith without work is dead. Potential without sacrifice, without hard work, without advancing. A collective will to see each other succeed. a collective will to see your neighbor rise. That collective will is not built on political philosophy alone. It is built on individual pride. It is built on individual character. Because if you're an individual that only see things in the eyes of race and division and hate, you need help because you will leave you will live in constant pain. You will live in constant

conflict because you see before you something that is good but your mind and your brain is trained to process it as something that is bad and you're in conflict with yourself. You're unhappy with yourself and you demonstrate that conflict, unhappiness in your social media post. Don't be in conflict with yourself. Let us rid ourselves after 60 years of independence of the weight of hate, the weight of division, the weight of race baiting, the ra the weight of unpleasantry. Let us rid ourselves of that weight. Lighten the vessel as we approach the winning years ahead of

us and the opportunities are going to be there for you in the diaspora. We have la just launched the expression of interest for you to invest in the fertilizer plant. the first fertilizer plant in a gas bottling plant with guaranteed rates of return that no bank or investment vehicle can give you. You now have that opportunity. Focus on this. Focus on the goal of development. Focus on the goal of positioning Guyana at the center stage of nature tourism, ecoourism. develop the Jamaican spirit of pride, the Jamaican spirit of nationalistic instinct, a deep spirit, a spirit

that is always first about country and then about person. In their greatest difficulty and challenge, the Jamaican front page will say one love. It will say reggga boys. It will say the land of dreams and opportunity. I went there in their gracious adversity. A group of us from Cariccom, the first to touch down in response to the hurricane. And in all of the adversity, in all of the destruction unimaginable at scale, I walked with the people and they said, "President, thank you for what Guyana is doing, but God is good. God is great. We still

have life. They sit in front of completely demolished communities and not a word of anger. God is good. God is great. We have life. We can build a game. Sometimes in our case, we have a whole pot of food in front of us. And our worry is why is chicken curry not barbecue? But these are important important things for us to process. Today, your country, your beautiful country has developed a system of response in the Caribbean after every natural disaster where we are the first responders, where we are the first to deliver aid and deliver

support because we have made it very clear that we have a responsibility for the region and our prosperity must lead to the prosperity and development of the region also. We are part of a region. We are not an island onto ourselves and that is a found foundational pillar of this Guyana we are building. That is why when we developed the Guyana digital school we invested in this and it is available for every single child in cariccom. So my friends, you play such a vital role in strengthening ties with the government here. Only a few m

moments ago, you heard the mayor speaking about a gy delegation who went to pass a resolution. Put your hands together for that delegation. I urge you to lay much more closely with the diaspora unit. Engage them. Reach out to them. Explore the opportunities that exist for collaboration and participation. Because the development of Guyana is not only for those who reside within our borders. It is also for you living abroad, your families. When I came here to address you today, I was wondering what should I say? There is so much information. And then I decided that

in addition to what I want to say by writing, I want to say by what my heart tells me. And my heart tells me that we in a diaspora must train ourselves out of the old Guyana we contemplate and embrace the philosophy of the new Guyana that is being built. and embrace the journey that will allow you to be part of this new philosophy. I gave an example yesterday of a young father leaving 40 years ago to come to Canada, leaving his land, but coming only with a hope of a better life, coming only with

a dream to do better for his family. arriving in snow plowed fields, working three jobs to make it, elevating himself by studying whilst working the three jobs. building a family and today creating children and an ecosystem where he can celebrate the fruits of that labor and that success. But it came from sacrifice. It came from hard work. It came from dedication. It did not come from that young father coming to Canada and asking to see the prime minister or that young father coming to Canada and asking the prime minister to give them a house lot.

It did not come from that young father coming to Canada and asking about what the Canadian government can do for them. It came with that young father coming to make sacrifices with a belief that hope exists, that betterment exists, that opportunity exists. And my dear friends, this is a story of many of you in this room, young people who are here, this is a story of your parents. This is a story of your grandparents. You did not inherit. Many young people come up to me here and say I'm a doctor, young doctor, young engineer, young

technician. And their parents are very proud. This is my son. He is a software developer. You did not get that by accident. At least the genetics tell you that your parents had the ability to be the same as you were. They did not have the opportunity that is the difference. It is their work and sacrifice that give you that opportunity. And similarly, it is the work and sacrifice of the government of Guyana that must give every single child the opportunity to be a doctor, a nurse, an engineer, an entrepreneur, a mechanic. And my friends, that

is what we're doing. That is exactly what we are doing. You will hear somebody say, "I can't find a job." And the latest job fair, tens of thousands of jobs unanswered, available. We are bringing in thousands of workers. You will know that when you come here, you may have come as a doctor. But many doctors and engineers came here as doctors, engineers and started as pump attendant because the system was not ready for them. A young person coming out of school in Guyana can do three months training as a heavy duty operator. I have our

member of parliament here. Stand up so they can see you, man. Indigenous heritage. Charles, stand up. Stand up, Charles. He's not only good-looking, he's brilliant. Vanessa, Vanessa, she's not only beautiful, she's extraordinary. She led our work on the forest with great intensity. You have our national security advisor. He was wondering if I'll call him, but that's our Portuguese brother stand up. Manny Ram is here also the chairman of the police and public service commission. You don't need to talk him to stand up. He'll stand up anyhow. So we have this opportunity before us. I was

telling you about a heavy duty operator. You can come out of school, train for three months, go and maybe get a minimum salary of about 2500 US, $2,000 per month. The propensity to save for that young person is far greater than what you may have here. And let me tell you something else. That young person can then study the degree program online because we have 42 participating universities under the gold scholarship program. But you may have a young person coming out of school and decide that they don't want to go and sit and operate a

machine, but they want to put on a tie and wait for a job as a teller in a bank where the salary is not even 50% the starting salary of what they will get as an operator. Why do I give you this example? I give you this example to say that the processing and the thinking process need adjustment. Your children here and you have to help tell the story. Your children here when they're in university or in high school, they go for attachment in the supermarkets. Am I right or wrong? They go for work attachment

in the restaurants. Am I right or wrong? Because there is dignity in every form of labor and that is meant to build character. To let them have an understanding as to what hard work is, what work means, to develop a philosophy of results, a philosophy of work. And that is an important part of the development process that we must pursue. So when we speak about a Ghana, we want to see we are speaking about more than roads and bridges and buildings. We are speaking about a nation where every child regardless of where they are born

has the opportunity to dream without limits and to succeed without barriers. We are speaking about a Guyana where modern highways connect our communities, where reliable and affordable energy powers our industries, where worldclass hospitals care for our people, and where education equip our young people to compete with the best in the world. We are building a guy. We are building a Guyana in which prosperity is not confined to a few but shared by many. A Guyana where agricultures modernize, where technology and innovation create new opportunities, where tourism showcases our beauty to the world, where investors and

entrepreneurs see endless possibilities. We want a Guyana that is economically strong, socially united, and globally respected. But above all, we want a Ghana in which our people feel proud, confident, and hopeful about the future. A Guyana that no longer sees its sons and daughters leaving because opportunity is scarce. But a Guyana that attracts talent, investment and ideas from every corner of the world, including from our diaspora gathered here today. That is the vision driving the transformation now taking place in our country. This is a future we're working every day to achieve. Many of you would

have heard that head that these headlines. Many of you would have read the reports. Yes, our economy is now the fastest growing economy in the world. But Guyana's story is much more than statistics and economic growth rates. What is taking place in our country is a complete national transformation. Guyana is modernizing at an unprecedented pace. We are laying the foundation for a modern, competitive and prosperous nation. And to do that, we understand that certain prerequisites must first be put in place. That is why we are investing heavily in modern transport infrastructure and modern energy infrastructure.

These are the pillars upon which the new Guyana is being built. New highways connecting every single region of our country. New highways opening up tens of thousands of acreage of new land. We are building four-lane highways right across the coast, completing the road link to Lem and Brazil, and open up the full potential of Guyana as the most strategic transport and logistics hub in our development block. by the building out of a deep water harbor, the gas toshore project in Barbese that will see massive investment in energy, data center, innovation centers, uh industrial development, manufacturing,

power generation, gas feeder system. But above all of this, we are preparing our workforce for this future. In just over a decade of oil and gas, we now have the top five training facility for deep sea offshore drilling on land in Guyana. A fullscale FPSO simulator. In just 10 years, we have done what those hundreds of years in oil and gas could not have done. We have built a worldclass facility where we will train citizens from across the world. Now that is because of a philosophy, a philosophy to put people, training and education first. We're

investing a hundred million US dollars in a world-class STEM school so that we can identify talent in the primary school system, bring them into the specialized school and create the next innovators, software developers, technologists, and leaders in industry from that STEM school we're investing in. We are building a world-class hospitality institute, world-class nursing school and we are partnering with the best education providers across the world to power the possib possibility of human potential. We have completed as I said many bridges. Soon we will launch the new Barbies River Bridge, a overhead bridge similar to the

concept of the Barjag Deio Demar River Bridge. And we're working closely with Surinam to bridge the quarantine river, creating greater regional integration and opening enormous opportunities for trade, investment, and commerce between our countries and the wider continent. At the same time, the quarantine public road is being developed into a modern four-lane highway. And as I said, this four-lane integration is covering every single coastal region with road expansion in all of the other regions. We're developing the Wales energy site, not only with a forest power plant, but works are already advancing to have the second power

plant, to have our forest fertilizer plant, a gas bottling plant. Private sector investment alone on the Derra River is stopping far over a billion US dollars. private sector investment alone in improve war facilities, improve port facilities. These are the things that we are doing. We are now leading the world with a global biodiversity alliance. We have gone out back to expression of interest for the falls hydro project. We are building mini off-grid solar system, hydropower system, small hydropower system, off-grid systems. These are the things that we're doing. We are powering the new economy with the

economic pillars of agriculture. We are partnering with Bloomberg grains, one of the best distribution and agriculture development uh company out of the US to be our partner meeting the greatest and highest global standards in food production. We are building out large scale food production system. We've earmark region five to be the livestock capital of the region. We are looking to increase our livestock by over 5,000% in the next 14 months. That is having a lot more animal than people in the country. In the first instance, we are building out our education system, our health care

system, incentivizing the private sector to invest in healthcare and education as export commodity. We're improving disposable income, increasing pension, expanding social services, supporting our children, supporting the elderly, building to ensure equity in the system, expanding our housing program, supporting the development of young professionals, giving up giving them also an opportunity of owning their own home. This is the Guyana we're investing in. This is the Guyana we are building. working now with some of the best product developers for our tourism sector, investing heavily in sports, recreational services, and the orange economy. We are working towards having

all our recreational facility at a minimum standard so that the people in the communities can use them. putting in nightlight facilities in all our facilities. Building out new stadiums, going after work, going after world workass sporting events or in another couple of weeks, we will be hosting one of the premier motor racing event in South America in Guyana. That is a GT series in Guyana because we've invested in infrastructure and we can now have that. Our development is people centered and serviceoriented. We're launching the Guyana Development Bank where we'll give small people loans without collateral

interest free loans and help them to use those small loans to unlock larger loans. We have hundreds of Ges now working towards new initiatives whether housing, technology, innovation. These are the things we're doing. investing in a security architecture that is worldclass, second to none. A security architecture that allows people to feel safe, to be safe, that is proactive. You will see when you come to Ghana now, we are building out small offices along different areas, creating family oriented spaces. These are the things that we are doing that would power economy to be successful long into

the future. But at the heart of this at the heart of this is people. And with people comes as some will describe it the good, the bad, the ugly. But our duty is to bring all of it together to create harmony. To create harmony and that is the exciting task for me. How do I take 60 years of different approach and bill it into the next 60und years of harmony? It requires everyone in this room to embrace the philosophy of harmony. To choose love over hate, to choose positivity over negativity, and to choose country over

self. The decision is ours. The decision is ours. The choice is ours. It is for us to now make that choice and make that decision. I thank you sincerely for allowing me your ear, for your patience in listening. I thank you for sacrificing your time to be here this morning. I've tried to take as many photographs as possible. Those who took already, please don't repeat. Give the others a chance. Is that fair? And we will take it with one camera and we'll post all on my Facebook. You can go and like the Facebook page and

experience the beauty of good conversation. God bless you. Thank you very much. Hey, hey, Hey, hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.