— Presidents to oversee new mechanism to push closer cooperation
GUYANA and Suriname have agreed to embark on a new wave of cooperation that will see the bridging of the Corentyne River and engagements in several areas of mutual benefit to the nations through a new mechanism which will be overseen by the countries’ leaders to fast track implementation.
This was reported by President Bharrat Jagdeo and visiting President of Suriname Desi Bouterse at a press conference at the Office of the President in Georgetown yesterday.
President Jagdeo reported that the areas for cooperation discussed include bridging the Corentyne River, combating climate change, crime and security, health, information technology, natural resources, mining and minerals, fisheries, agriculture, energy and tertiary education.
“These are all very, very important areas where we can work together to advance the cause of our peoples,” President Jagdeo said. He added that the mechanism for cooperation is important and vital to making progress in these areas.
According to President Jagdeo, it has been found too many times in the past that the work on cooperation between the two states through the Joint Commission did not show itself to be the best of approaches. He said the commission did not have enough high-level political attention.
Mr. Jagdeo said that with the Office of the President of Suriname overseeing the process of cooperation and his office doing the same, the process will be accelerated.
He stated that no timeline was set for the commencement of the bilateral feasibility study for the bridge.
“[We agreed that] we should be effective, we should be concrete…there is urgency about this task,” he said. “We hope that the renewed mechanism that we put in place will get together, not like in the past where the Joint Commission met occasionally and the negotiations were mired in bureaucracy. They will meet soon to advance the technical work in all of these areas. And there is quite a bit of technical work to be done so we are looking for urgent movement in these areas but we don’t want to be accused of not doing the technical work.
“On the issue of financing, once the studies are done, I am sure with the contacts I have for [President Bouterse’s Office] we will be able to deal with that issue”.
Echoing President Jagdeo, President Bouterse said that at this point in time the political will is the most important element for bridging the Corentyne River and thus there is no timeline.
Further, he said that the technical and economic feasibility of the project must be taken into consideration and once the will is there and the ideas are clear, financing should not be the biggest problem or the “highest bridge” to cross.
He alluded to the building of bridges across the Suriname and Coppename rivers and said that in the initial stages, there was lack of will and negative comments about the need for those bridges. But he said that since those bridges have been built, there have been tremendous benefits.
Mr. Jagdeo said that for years Guyana has been engaged in discussions as part of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) and the road from Lethem to Georgetown and the bridge across the Corentyne River are both projects that have been discussed under IIRSA as projects to network infrastructure throughout South America.
He said that while Guyana and Suriname need to work within that multilateral arrangement, “We recognize that it will take a very long time within the multilateral [framework] to get those projects done. So we agreed to have a feasibility study done through a bilateral process to see how we can advance those processes ahead of the IIRSA plans.”
He said that the reasons for the bridge are clear, noting the movement of people and goods and mentioning that a whole range of developmental impact could be gleaned from having the bridge and it is not just purely about financial feasibility.
Bouterse said bridging the Corentyne River is of vital importance and noted that Guyana and Suriname agreed that they should go the bilateral route while the multilateral efforts are ongoing.
“We are happy to welcome the distinguished President of Suriname and his delegation to Guyana. We have had some very important discussions and we are very captured by the approach by the President of Suriname and his desire to strengthen the relations between the two countries and the no nonsense approach that [he] brought to the discussions,” said President Jagdeo. “We hope that this will lead to an acceleration of the initiatives that we discussed this morning.”
Mr. Jagdeo added that the links between Guyana and Suriname are very important for development “and because we not only share the same geography but our history and how we got here and the struggles of our people. So we look forward with great enthusiasm to the strengthening of the relations.”
Speaking mostly through an interpreter, President Bouterse said Suriname is embarking on a new era with new ideas and thoughts and is sharing these with Guyana.
He said that although Suriname is a part of South America and of the Caribbean, history has shown that primarily it has an orientation that is European.
Bouterse said that Suriname stands at a crossroads now and hence the desire to share its new ideas with Guyana. He added that his country has a special aspiration towards the Caribbean and South America.
He said that of the surrounding countries, Suriname is more attracted to Guyana because of the commonality of borders and of natural resources and noted that there are opportunities for a higher standard of living of the peoples of the two countries.
“We are now here to share with each other and look at what we can do together to bring the people of Suriname and Guyana to a higher level,” he said.
Through an interpreter, Chief of Staff of the Office of the President of Suriname, Harvey Naarendorp, President Bouterse said that since Suriname now has a new government, “We are convinced that these discussions that we have had today are of great importance, because we have found out that we have agreed on most of the issues that were brought to the fore today.”
One of the most important, he said, is the mechanism that has to be put in place to concretise plans that been there for a long time.
“The mechanism that will be put in place will fall directly under (the Presidents) to make sure that the right pressures [are applied] to have things materialise as quickly as possible,” Bouterse said.
Speaking to the issue of borders, President Jagdeo said that while it was agreed in the discussion that borders are important, “We agreed to a changed philosophy…we need to put our relationship beyond just the border issues that we have had.”
He pointed out that the border issues between the two nations have often overshadowed and stymied cooperation in many other areas. “There are so many thing that we can do together because of geography and synergy that would be good for the people of Suriname and the people of Guyana and for our joint development. So, while borders are important and border issues are important, we insisted and we agreed that our engagement in the future will put our relationship beyond those (borders) and we will seek to accelerate the process.”