RECENTLY-appointed Guyana Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Kuwait, Odeen Ishmael, and High Commissioner to Canada, Harry Narine Nawbatt, are due to take up their respective residencies in the countries at the end of this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said yesterday in an invited comment.
Guyana and Kuwait established diplomatic relations on August 17, 1995, and Ambassador Ishmael is this country’s first-ever envoy to that country. His appointment is in keeping with a commitment to strengthening relations between Guyana and Kuwait, following a visit there by President Bharrat Jagdeo in January, last year, and a  reciprocal visit by Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al Hamed Al Jaber Al Saber here in July.
During the visit here, Guyana and Kuwait signed five technical cooperation agreements which sought to encourage cooperation of the private sector through the establishment of joint ventures; avoid tax being levied twice on the remuneration or any other money earned by a Guyanese or Kuwaiti in the respective countries; allow the two countries to develop trade relations, expanding the exchange of goods and services, encouraging participation in trade fairs and international markets and also exchanges of commercial delegations; establish a joint commission that would monitor the cooperation programmes between the two countries in the economic, commercial, investment and financial fields; and permit the two countries to develop bilateral air services and to promote international cooperation in the air services field.
It is expected that Ambassador Ishmael’s taking up of his appointment will serve as an added fillip towards getting these agreements up and running.
As for investment, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett noted that while the Government has done its part in formalizing the agreement, the ball is now in the court of the Private Sector to capitalize on opportunities that will open up.
Ambassador Ishmael, who was Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela from November 2003 up to the time of his new posting, has also recorded a distinguished career as a diplomat. He was in Washington from June 1993 to October 2003, and in 1993, Ishmael was a member of Guyana’s delegation at the UN General Assembly.
Along with representing the country at the OAS General Assemblies and other specialised meetings of this body in various countries of the hemisphere, Ambassador Ishmael has headed Guyana’s delegation to meetings involving the Regional Negotiating Machinery of CARICOM, Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), World Trade Organisation, Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Summits of Heads of States of the OIC in Tehran and Qatar, and the Latin American Economic System (SELA) which was headquartered in Caracas.
High Commissioner Nawbatt, a former Housing Minister with the Government, moves to Canada from his last posting as Guyana’s Ambassador to Brazil, a postion he held since November 2008. He replaces High Commissioner Rajnarine Singh.
Discussions are to commence shortly at Cabinet level with respect to replacements to fill the void in Brazil and Venezuela, the Foreign Minister said.