THE late President Cheddi Jagan and current President, Bharrat Jagdeo, have led a sustained struggle for the integration of the global community in collective efforts to address global impacting imperatives, especially in food and social security, and in sustaining efforts to make the world a better and safer place.
To effect major changes in extant paradigms, they have initiated dialogue that has become part of the agenda at various fora.
The Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture has impelled an awareness of the dire necessity for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations, and indeed nations everywhere, to become more proactive in their agricultural thrust to ensure food security for their people, with all the associated implications for the economy (and the health) of nation-states.
Dr. Jagan’s New Global Human Order has been adopted by the United Nations as creating a new global dispensation to catalyse equity in the human family and seems to be the requisite solution to equalise opportunities among humankind.
These and other initiatives have earned Guyana respect and high esteem around the world, a far cry from the days when it was regarded as a pariah in the democratic world.
The accolades that have been bestowed on the leadership of Guyana have been many and have come from diverse bodies, including heads of states, individually and collectively.
The latest tribute to excellent leadership in world affairs to be accorded Guyana is its accession to the chair of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
This is a signal honour and an acknowledgement that President Jagdeo has achieved a status for the nation on the global map that has placed this still fledgling nation on a stairway that could only direct its national development trajectory upwards.
The PPP/C had promised in its manifesto that it will seek to build fraternal bridges with neighbouring countries.  Within a relatively short span of time the government has gone beyond that promise and premise to incorporate a holistic approach to development that seeks to encompass the world in its contextual message, as initially envisioned by Dr. Cheddi Jagan and advanced on many fronts by President Jagdeo.
The formation and the joint initiatives of the body politic of organisations like UNASUR are further steps in the right direction.