A memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) and Angostura of Trinidad, puts Guyana one step closer to rum production.

The proposed US$10M agreement, reached at Herdmanston House in Queenstown, will see Guysuco converting molasses into rum by the end of next year and this, says Lawrence Duprey, Chairman of Angostura, is a significant achievement.

“We welcome Guysuco’s efforts in adding value to one of their key products, which is moving from sugar on to alcohol [and] which will have further value when we brand the alcohol... What we can bring to the table is to put Brand Guyana rum out on our global market...We have access to markets in almost every country in the world by the recent acquisitions we have just made,” Duprey told reporters.

Patrick Patel, Managing Director of the Angostura Group of Companies, said there would be about 50 to 60 direct jobs created by the initiative. The Trinidadians said if the same approach was taken in other local industries, Guyana could develop at a much faster rate.

According to Guysuco’s Chairman Vickram Oditt, the project represents another important step in achieving one of the company’s fundamental goals, which was to add value to its production.

“It is extremely important that we constantly seek to add value to all the products we produce, whether it is sugar itself, molasses or bagasse...We have embarked on a major expansion in the Skeldon area...where we would be building a new factory, inclusive of a refinery, which would add value to the production of raw sugar by producing white sugar and, co-generation, which would involve the production of energy power from bagasse...Today, we go another step forward in terms of achieving a goal to convert the molasses that we produce into alcohol...the MOU is a step in the direction towards the signing of a formal contract hopefully before the end of this year,” Oditt stated.

Duprey and his team said one of the problems towards this type of development in the past was that the process from conceptualisation to actualisation was too long and difficult. As a result, many of the entrepreneurs were discouraged.

“But right now, we think that there is a bright light shining and there are certain things that we are doing now that are being done much easier that they have been done in the past...So I believe that [the signing of the MOU] could strengthen the economy of our countries.

And in the single market economy, we feel that Guyana would emerge to be one of the leaders...we feel that the resources that exist in Guyana, if we put good management and we share values and visions as we are sharing now, the wider Caribbean would benefit significantly,” Duprey said.

The Trinidad-based group also runs and owns the Colonial Life Insurance Company and has been doing business with Guyana for about 70 years.

Others present at yesterday’s signing were attorney-at-law Randy Depoo, a consultant to Angostura; Guysuco Chief Executive Michael Boast; and Dr. Dindyal Permaul, Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Agriculture.