GEORGETOWN — U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg held talks with top Guyanese officials, including President Irfaan Ali, in Georgetown to explore investment opportunities in the country's bauxite and other mineral resources. The United States announced that it is turning its attention toward Guyana's bauxite and other resources for business opportunities.

"Generally speaking, we both understand that Guyana is a country with a lot of natural resources," Helberg said. He suggested that the U.S. could assist Guyana in conducting high-tech surveys to determine other minerals under the surface for development.

Guyana's bauxite reserves are critical for producing aluminum. Chinese operator Bosai Minerals is the dominant player in Guyana's local bauxite sector.

Guyana's Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud said the country is interested in attracting U.S. investors to the mineral, oil and gas-rich nation in the coming months. "The U.S. is our strategic partner and we made that clear to them but we would want value added to bauxite and other products. We are interested in processing and with improvements in energy generation," Persaud said.

Guyana has experienced an oil boom due to mass oil reserves discovered in the last decade. A global energy crisis caused by the Iran war has amplified the country's geopolitical importance.

According to Benjamin Gedan, senior fellow and director of the Stimson Center Latin America program, Latin America's energy production, which had appeared to be declining, is now seeing a reversal of that trend. "In times of global energy scarcity, there's a great deal more focus on Latin America as an alternative stable source of supply," Gedan said in a podcast interview. "And Guyana is the leader of that story."