THE GOVERNMENT and people of Guyana, shocked and deeply saddened by the most devastating earthquake –triggered disaster in Japanese recorded history, would have had a good reminder on Friday of the very valued partnership cooperation that has existed over the years between our nation and the Government and people of Japan.
Even as the massive scale of the disaster in the loss of thousands of lives and injuries and mindboggling national destruction were unfolding, a team of Japanese experts on energy efficiency and conservation were involved in a previously scheduled seminar on Friday in Georgetown, organized by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) in accordance with Japan’s outreach in international cooperation.
Japan has had a long history in bilateral and multilateral cooperation arrangements in trade, technical assistance investment and economic aid with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region. The CARICOM Secretariat headquarters building stands as an outstanding symbol of its significant financial assistance partnership with the Guyana Government that made the project a reality.
Yesterday, Acting Secretary-General of CARICOM, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite would have expressed shared sentiments of all member states of our Community when she noted that CARICOM stood “in solidarity with the government and people of Japan in affirming their confidence that the country would overcome these most trying times with their known resilience and courage…”
Current CARICOM chairman, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of Grenada, in an immediate response to the horrific disaster, observed that “our region has always enjoyed good cooperation and relations with Japan.” Thomas also took the opportunity to point out that the strength and intensity of the earthquake “underscores the continued calls for focused attention on climate change in our countries…”