I READ an article in the Guyana Chronicle Newspaper under the caption “Guyana, Suriname pursue common interest for betterment of both countries peoples. Piracy, crime among issues” in its edition of Saturday, February18, 2012. Kindly allow me to state the following:
I felt really good that President Donald Ramotar paid a state visit to Suriname which will strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation for the betterment of the peoples of both countries.
It is my understanding that Presidents Donald Ramotar and Desi Bouterse spoke about the construction of a bridge across the Corentyne River linking the two countries for the promotion of trade and the deepening of friendly relations between the peoples of Guyana and Suriname.
What an achievement this would be, and I am praying to the Great Spirit for the IDB to agree on this great initiative, and release the necessary funding for the construction of the proposed bridge.
It was also good to hear that both countries will cooperate in the areas of mineral development, climate change, cultural exchanges, piracy and crime prevention, agricultural development and border security among others.
Both countries have recognised the value of their forests in the delivery of ecological service, and moreso, the fight against global climate change. They also pledged to cooperate where the REDD+ Programmes are concerned. This is great news.
But already the cooperation on climate change activities have started with the recent arrival of Mr John Goedschlk of Suriname’s Climate Compatible Development Agency, who held discussions with Guyana’s climate change experts.
With the sharing of experiences, Suriname can learn quite a lot from Guyana in the preparation of its Readiness Preparation Proposal (RPP) for the implementation of its REDD+ activities.
Janette Bulkan, now a climate change advisor to APNU, had advised Suriname on its RPP when she was a member of the Technical Advisory panel (TAP) of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Suriname in 2009 failed its RPP assessment and had to re-prepare it.