FOLLOWING a productive day of deliberations to strengthen the Guyana/India relations, officials from the Ministry of External Affairs in India paid their respects yesterday to President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Office of the President.

The team, led by the Ministry’s Western Division Secretary Vivek Katju included Joint Secretary Dammu Ravi and First Secretary of India High Commission Tirath Singh who were in Guyana for the third round of political consultations with Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Asked by the Government Information Agency (GINA) for a comment on yesterday’s meeting with President Jagdeo, Secretary Katju described it as a privilege to be received by the Guyanese Head of State and said he used the occasion to seek guidance on how to enhance the two countries’ ties.
The consultations were established in 1990 to fulfill the goal of partnership among developing countries to secure survival in response to numerous global challenges. It allowed the two countries to exchange views and strategies to issues affecting the international community and at the same time promote mutual cooperation.
The political consultations sought the review of priority projects and proposals emanating from the fourth Guyana India Joint Commission meeting held in Guyana in 2008 which led to the implementation of a number of cooperation programmes in health, education, agriculture, environment and others.
The previous day the Guyanese Head of State had conveyed his condemnation of recent bomb attacks that claimed lives in Mumbai and signaled Guyana’s solidarity with the people of India.
In her opening remarks to the visiting delegation,  Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett expressed the gratitude Guyana owes the Indian Government for support in the construction of the Guyana National Stadium at Providence and the country’s traffic  signalling system.
Reference was also made to the number of scholarships offered to Guyana from the Indian Government through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
Secretary Katju said the Government of India sees its relations with Guyana as important as it shares several similarities in history and traditions, making reference to the struggle to end tyranny in the colonial era.
“We have come here to renew and invigorate our partnership and we will do everything that is possible to support Guyana in the spirit of South/South cooperation,” Secretary Katju remarked.
He used the occasion to applaud the leadership which President Jagdeo and Guyana has committed in the struggle against climate change. (GINA)