If you were speaking to Indian CEOs, which sectors would you highlight?

First, oil and gas. We want to diversify the players in the sector. By the end of this year, we expect to move production up to one million barrels per day.

Secondly, infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges. Thirdly, energy infrastructure. Indian companies are already involved in renewable expansion and the modernisation of transmission and distribution.

Then there are medical facilities and medical tourism, and agriculture and the entire agricultural ecosystem.

For India itself, the oil opportunity is significant. We started drilling in 2019 and, in a matter of seven years, we will be up to one million barrels per day. Our production is now more than Venezuela’s. Guyana has only about 11 billion barrels of reserves, but on a per capita basis we are the largest. When you take into consideration the fact that we will be producing one million barrels per day, we can play a role in supplying India’s needs.

The advantage our oil has is that it is described as very high quality. It is a sweet crude. The refining of our crude costs less and the returns are much higher than with heavier crude, such as Venezuelan crude, which has higher sulphur content.

Can Guyana become a gateway to CARICOM and Latin America for Indian businesses?

Of course. I have been promoting that aspect of Guyana. We are English-speaking. We have a decent landmass compared with other CARICOM members. The CARICOM headquarters is in Guyana, and we have a fairly good transportation network.

You can drive to Suriname, Trinidad is about 55 minutes away, and we sit on the Latin American continent. You can drive over to Brazil. So we can be a gateway to Latin America and also to the Caribbean and Caribbean islands. There are opportunities not only for medical and educational services but also for companies providing engineering services.

Guyana has the land and water resources to become a major food producer for the Caribbean. What role can India play?

My own personal opinion is that we will not be able to grow as fast as we would like without Indian technology in the agro-processing sector. India has done phenomenally well in working with small farmers and providing technology that is not expensive, is easy to use and can go a long way in processing agricultural produce.

It is one of the areas where we are very weak in Guyana, primarily because of the cost of energy. We cannot be competitive in industry and manufacturing if we do not bring the cost of energy down. India’s expertise, experience and technology can work well with Guyana to enhance its capacity and realise its potential to be the breadbasket of the Caribbean.

Some Indian states share similar climatic conditions and sunshine hours. The crops are also similar. We do rice, you do rice. We do sugar, you do sugar. We have to intensify agriculture, increase production per unit, do it sustainably, ensure quality and ensure reliability of supply to become a major player in the food security ecosystem of the Caribbean.

Could Guyana also become a healthcare hub for the wider region?

It is the ambition of President Ali to make Guyana the health hub not only of the Caribbean but also of North America and Latin America.

We have started building that infrastructure, with hospitals, state-of-the-art equipment and highly qualified professionals.

On 26 May this year, a surgery was performed in which the surgeon, Dr Srivastava, was in Georgetown, Guyana, operating using robotics and an internet network, while the patient was in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, almost 20,000 kilometres away.

That is remarkable. What did that operation demonstrate about the future of India–Guyana healthcare cooperation?

It gives you an idea of how far we have come in medical cooperation. At the time, it was the longest-distance surgery ever attempted, with almost 20,000 kilometres between the surgeon and the patient.

We want to build that health infrastructure so that Guyana can become the health hub and be very attractive for health tourism. You come for your medical treatment and you stay and recuperate in an environment that is almost like a vacation. That is what we are looking at.