-Foreign Affairs Minister tells visiting Haitian journalists
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett Thursday had discussions with a visiting team of journalists from Haiti who paid a courtesy call at the ministry.
The visit from the Haitian delegation followed a similar one to sister country Barbados, where the team met with officials from the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) unit. The purpose of their visit to Guyana is to learn more about the country and CARICOM, and about Haiti’s involvement in the Community.
Minister Rodrigues-Birkett welcomed the team  and also mentioned the number of steps that the Government of Guyana had already taken to strengthen its bilateral relations with the sister country, including the waiving of visas for some categories of Haitians to travel to the country.
“The CSME provides for free movement for certain categories of people … we have abolished visas for diplomats, business persons, persons holding service passports and persons that are holders of United States, United Kingdom and Canadian visas…we have also put a system in place where visas can be obtained upon arrival in Guyana for persons who are outside the categories mentioned,” she said.
Guyana has supported 64 of 65 tariff-free items on the list Haiti had submitted, with COTED already approving the implementation of 42.
Minister Rodrigues-Birkett also told the visiting team, when asked about government’s relations with the press, that, “the media is an extremely important part of the democratic process and we have to, at all times, defend their rights
“We might not like everything they say, but we do defend their rights…these rights however come with responsibilities… the media has to be responsible, so there are times when we would not like the media because they say something wrong, and it is printed on the front page, and an apology is later followed in a tiny corner on the back page”. 
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Caption: From left Ms Valery Daudier; Nikki Cole, Foreign Service Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; and Director, Department of Americas, Candida Daniels.