Georgetown : The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guyana, Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, M.P., and His Excellency Winston Lackin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Suriname met at the Grand Coastal Hotel, Plantation Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara, today
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers was in keeping with the mandate of the Presidents of Guyana and Suriname that the Foreign Ministers should meet at least every six months to review the progress of the relations and the programme of cooperation between the two countries.
In this regard, their discussions focused on the decisions taken to cooperate more closely in the areas of agriculture, including fisheries, natural resources, exploration and exploitation, crime and security, climate change and coordination of positions in regional and hemispheric fora in particular, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC).
It was agreed that meetings involving officials from the agricultural and natural resources sectors, as well as security would take place within the next three months to implement outstanding activities aimed at deepening cooperation in those sectors.
The Ministers discussed the decision taken by the Government of Suriname for its diplomatic representation in Guyana to have a dual function with an Ambassador appointed to CARICOM to be resident in Guyana, with another resident Ambassador handling bilateral issues. Noting that it was a very commendable step, the Foreign Minister of Guyana assured her counterpart that the request would be given very favourable consideration once it had been formally received by the Government of Guyana.
The Ministers also discussed the “back track” activities across the Corentyne River and agreed that steps would be taken to regulate these operations. In this regard, the relevant agencies would meet to discuss joint arrangements to effectively regulate these operations.
With regard to the construction of a bridge over the Corentyne River, it was agreed that the Ministers would continue to pursue with the IDB funding for the pre-feasibility studies to realize this project.
The Ministers agreed to resuscitate the discussions on the outstanding issues regarding the border between Guyana and Suriname.
They agreed that their next meeting would take place in Suriname in six months’ time.
