– President Jagdeo
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has said Guyana’s long term prosperity is linked to the development of Brazil and other countries of the South.

But, speaking at a media briefing in State House, on Main Street, Georgetown, last Friday, he insisted that CARICOM can be apart of the existing opportunities.

Reporting on his recent engagements in Brazil, following the official opening of the Takutu River Bridge linking Guyana and Brazil, the Head of State said he had “excellent meetings” with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and other officials.

“We have some strong commitments, from the Federal Government in Brazil, to assist us with some of the key projects that we see as vital for our future, as transformative to Guyana,” President Jagdeo stated.

He disclosed that, as a result, this month-end, a team from Brazil will be visiting Guyana to have discussions on financing modalities and, in early October, another group, led by some Brazilian Ministers, will be here to advance those discussions.

“We are not talking about way into the future. We are talking about immediate urgent action to move things forward,” President Jagdeo assured.

He said, in the State of Roraima, he met with several individuals and they talked about advancing the development of large scale agriculture in the intermediate and Rupununi savannahs and the transfer of technology from Embrapa in Brazil.

“They are very serious about the transfer of technology to Guyana that will allow us to become a major player in these areas,” Mr. Jagdeo indicated.

He also revealed that, currently, the Brazilians are exploring large projects in soya bean, rice and cassava cultivation and improving breeding stocks.

Extended
“But these could be extended into other areas. I think we can quickly move to get these larger projects forward that will be sensitive, first of all, to the environment and to our indigenous people,” President Jagdeo said.

He recalled meeting with Toshaos as well as members of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lethem, to discuss the future of Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) and the benefits and what role they can play to accelerate future development.

During the talks, President Jagdeo said he announced that he has approved a $47M relief package to aid hinterland communities being affected by drought-like conditions as a result of the El Nino phenomenon.

However, some of the Toshaos in Region Nine raised the problems faced and, consequently, he asked that those be included in the interventions so that more money could be disbursed, based on the new requests received from the hinterland areas.

“So the $47M that we have approved will be increased a bit to a level to accommodate some of the problems that other areas have faced,” President Jagdeo pointed out.

Replying to questions about CARICOM being involved in the context of South-South cooperation, he said: “I think it is very important that we bring CARICOM along. CARICOM has been a traditional partner with our country and that is not going to change but I think we need to have people from CARICOM see greater opportunities through Guyana into the South America – through our eyes.”

“We have to prepare for that here in Guyana but, since we are such a critical State in CARICOM and we are the headquarters State, we need to also project those opportunities to the rest of CARICOM and assist them to make use of them,” he agreed.