Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar has hailed Guyana’s ‘very buoyant’ economy and joined the country’s President Bharrat Jagdeo in announcing that new bridges of economic cooperation will be built between the two countries.

After the two leaders met at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday reported the Prime Minister alluded to Guyana’s “tremendous” natural resources.

Encouraged by the prospects of oil and gas exploration in Guyana, Persaud-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago may be able to share its expertise given the island’s experience in oil and natural gas.

A study in June 2000 concluded that Guyana is the second most attractive under-explored basin in the world with a potential of 15.2 billion barrels of oil.

Were an oil discovery to be made in the Guyana Basin, production targets would be estimated at 50 million barrels per year which would be equivalent to 140,000 barrels per day.

President Jagdeo was quoted by Newsday as saying that Trinidad and Tobago’s expertise and proximity makes it a suitable source for the tremendous capacity needed to develop the industry.

On the other hand the Persad-Bissessar administration welcomes any expertise Guyana could offer in the area of food production which the Prime Minister credited as making strides “over a relatively short space of time.”

Guyana’s geographic location as a gateway into South America, particularly with the opening of the Takutu bridge was also observed by the Persaud as an opportunity to provide local investors with easier access to markets in Brazil.

Jagdeo has invited Trinidad and Tobago to participate in a meeting to be hosted later this year in Guyana with the 12 leaders of Latin American nations, according to the Newsday.

Additionally, a team from Guyana will return to the twin Island republic in September to meet with local business persons and other investor