00:00With government signaling a renewed energy push and Prime Minister Kamala
00:05Passat-Bissassar announcing a new stake for NGC in the cross-border Coquina
00:11Mannequin gas field, economist Dr. Indira Sajjuan says increased gas
00:17production can help the economy but must not come at the expense of
00:22diversification. I don't think we'll have another chance after this but because
00:27this is the time now even as we attempt to resuscitate the energy sector that we
00:33are very careful that we use the resources that comes out of this
00:39potential new fillet to the sector that that could happen that we use the
00:46resources that comes out of this to ensure that we put the economy on a
00:50diversification front. She says past energy earnings were not used effectively
00:56enough to build sustainable economic engines leaving the country still
01:01reliant on imported goods and vulnerable to forex pressures. It also means that our
01:07industries are heavily import dependent which means they're heavily foreign
01:12exchange dependent which means if we don't have an energy sector that is earning
01:18the foreign exchange to feed into the non-energy manufacturing sector to allow
01:24them to import most of their input the industry then suffers. Dr. Sajjuan welcomes
01:32government's major investment plans but says TNT must broaden its trading
01:38relationships beyond just the US and build industries that can earn foreign
01:44exchange beyond energy. We must be strategic as a country to position ourselves to
01:50leverage the opportunities around us to our benefit and ensure that we do not allow
01:57ourselves to be anyone's pawn to our own detriment.
02:01Nicole M Romany TV6 news
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