PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday wrapped up his latest visit to the Middle East after meetings at the highest levels in Tehran, Iran.

He met Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the official news agency IRNA said Iran and Guyana have signed two memoranda of understanding that cover Iranian development assistance to this country and other areas.

IRNA did not provide details of the assistance agreement but said that in referring to common grounds shared by both countries in various fields such as commerce, industry and mining, the Supreme Leader underlined that Iran is ready to transfer its invaluable experiences to its friends.

The visit to Iran was the final leg of the President’s trip to the Middle East that also saw him visiting Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to generate interest in Guyana as an investment location and to strengthen ties with non-traditional trading partners.

No doubt, details on the outcome of these visits will be provided when the President reports to the nation on the trips; but the mission fits in with the government’s drive to fashion a new economy.

Mr. Jagdeo provided some insights behind this thrust last year after a shortened visit to the region where he met leaders and potential investors in Syria, Cyprus and Jordan.

Libya and Guyana have been discussing possible large-scale mining and agriculture among other projects here, and the outreach in the Middle East is in addition to the government’s bid to attract more investments from emerging economies like India, China and Brazil.

“We have to open new frontiers for investment”, the President said at the opening of the 2009 annual Police Officers conference in Georgetown.

He said countries in the Middle East have major investment arms and investment opportunities in the developed world are risky because of the turmoil there.

He said this has become even more important with the drying up of capital in Western countries for investments abroad, noting that the situation in the developed world could worsen.

“We have to be aggressive at the world level to raise money for this country”, he said, pointing to the possibilities of huge inflows of investment finance from the growing carbon trading market.

“We have to constantly be on the move…we have to look at how we will fashion the new economy”, he said, adding that the government is busy working on that.

It is in this light that Guyana is building closer ties with the Middle East while at the same time demonstrating its independence in handling global affairs.

“Those nations trying to remain independent and (that) do not intend to trample upon rights of others are regarded as our friends irrespective of their races or languages,” Ayatollah Khamenei told President Jagdeo, according to IRNA.

Referring to domination of the United States and the western powers over Latin American countries in the past, the Supreme Leader said, “Fortunately, those nations have been enlightened and prefer politicians who seek independent policies.”

IRNA said President Jagdeo welcomed Iran’s active presence in Latin America as well as in the Caribbean region, and said this country has adopted independent policies in dealing with global affairs and is to make use of Iran’s experiences in various fields.

Guyana can look forward to more mutually fruitful relations with its friends in the Middle East as it builds its new economy.