Comprising representatives from 10 European companies across 7 different member states (Spain, Austria, France, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, and Ireland), the Delegation was led by Ambassador Rene Van Nes, the Ambassador of Spain, Cristina Perez, the Ambassador of Sweden Anders Bengcten and the French Chargé Jean-Jacques Forté. This “Team Europe" delegation came to Guyana with a shared purpose: to explore investment opportunities in Guyana’s burgeoning health and pharmaceutical sectors, an essential part of the country's ambitious development strategy. 

A relatively unknown country to many outside the Caribbean, Guyana is fast becoming a booming oil giant, and its government is now setting its sights on a bold, transformative ambition: to become a regional hub for health and pharma within the Caribbean. Rapid transformation in the sector is already taking place in the country, with the construction and upgrading of 13 hospitals ongoing and significant funding made available by the Guyanese Government to develop the pharmaceutical industry. 

This investment mission underscores the European Union’s strategic focus on Guyana as a key player in the region’s health and pharma landscape — a vital component of the EU's broader Global Gateway priorities, as this sector stands at the intersection of economic growth, public health, and innovation. Under the Global Gateway, the EU is already providing vital technical expertise in partnership with the Lithuanian regulatory agency, to help Guyana strengthen its regulatory environment, ensuring that the country’s pharma sector can meet international standards and attract global investors. 

The EU will also support Guyana’s vision to set up a biopark — a Global Gateway project aimed at fostering innovation and creating a sustainable ecosystem for the local health and pharmaceutical sectors in partnership with the award-winning biopark of Charleroi (Belgium). The biopark will act as a catalyst for local and international investment, bringing together companies, research institutions, and healthcare innovators to drive forward cutting-edge solutions. 

Looking ahead, this first EU investment mission in the health and pharma sector is just the beginning. The EU and Guyana are already exploring ways to strengthen this relationship, including potential investment missions to Europe, which could provide Guyanese actors with access to European markets and further opportunities for collaboration.