IT IS anticipated that the first state visit of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro today,will lay the foundation for further strengthening the relations between Guyana and its western South American neighbour.
This is according to Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, who was at the time welcoming members of the Venezuelan delegation to Guyana at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) at

Liliendaal, yesterday.
“It is our collective expectation on the Guyanese side that this high level visit will herald an even further strengthening of Guyana-Venezuela relations,” he said.
Singh noted that Guyana has, over the years, enjoyed a very special relationship with Venezuela, sharing much in terms of economic activity, values, common positions at international fora, collaboration at international events and collaboration at the multilateral level.
“We value very greatly the relationship we have with our Venezuelan neighbours and friends, and we can think of many examples of practical manifestations of the richness and strength of our relationship,” he stated.
The minister pointed out that the most prominent of the Guyana-Venezuela collaboration is the PetroCaribe initiative, an initiative which was conceived by Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez and which allows Guyana, and other countries, to purchase oil from Venezuela by paying only a percentage of the money upfront, and the remaining sum over time under a special financing agreement.
According to Singh, this initiative has proved to be tremendously transformational to the entire Caribbean Region, and Guyana is an appreciative beneficiary.
He related that while he cited only this as one example of the manifestation of the relationship and friendship shared by the two countries, there are a number of other initiatives that they are collaborating and cooperating on, some of which are on the agenda for the bilateral meeting today.
Singh related that Guyana has had the privilege of receiving high-level visits from Venezuela in the past, noting that the Guyanese people had received the country’s late President Chavez  with much warmth when he visited Guyana a few years ago.
“He was very highly regarded in Guyana, highly celebrated and warmly received by the Guyanese people. Indeed, we mourned his passing and commiserated with our Venezuelan brothers and sisters at the loss of this great hemispheric leader,” Singh stated.
It is against this background, the minister said, that Guyanese look forward with great excitement and anticipation to President Maduro’s visit.
He advised that a very formidable agenda has been set out, organised around five thematic areas. In addition, he advised that following the short media briefing yesterday, the five working groups would commence the technical work.
The working groups consist of members of the Venezuelan and Guyanese delegations, representatives of Venezuelan and Guyanese agencies, ministers of government on both sides and the Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Reina Arratia.
Leader of the Venezuelan delegation, Asdrubal Chavez, said that the meeting of the two presidents could push the countries ahead with a lot of strength and energy that will see the improvement of the lives of the two peoples.
Chavez said that the cooperation between the two countries would be more transparent.
“This is one that doesn’t ask of another country’s decisions that can go against sovereignty, it’s an open and frank communication and this is how our supreme commander dream of it,” he said, via a translator.
While he pointed out that some of the Venezuelan ministers and their president were not in Guyana as yet, he encouraged the technical teams to work to present to them the fruitful results of the meeting.
Meanwhile, at his weekly post-cabinet media briefing on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, had said that President Maduro’s visit to Guyana could be seen as an opportunity to cement the undertakings that his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez, had created.
He said that the support that has been provided by the Venezuelan government in important sectors of Guyana’s economy, and the need for the two sides to consider approaches to optimise the benefit of these engagements, would be high on the agenda of the bilateral meeting between the Venezuelan and Guyanese Presidents.
Maduro is the successor to the late Bolivarian Republic’s Leader Hugo Chavez, and was installed as Venezuela’s new President after the April 14 polls, following Chavez’s death in March of this year.
While yesterday’s visit was his first to Guyana as President of Venezuela, Maduro had visited Guyana on several occasions, and often led the welcoming party when Government officials from Guyana visited that country, as former Venezuelan Vice President under Chavez’s 14-year rule.
Following his arrival at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, President Maduro will meet his counterpart, President Donald Ramotar, at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) for a bilateral meeting.
The state visit will conclude with a social event at the GICC that will see the participation of civil society.