HIS Excellency Subit Kumar Mandal has ended his four-year tenure as Indian High Commissioner to Guyana with a sense of pride that the cordial relationship which exists between Guyana and India has not diminished.
With just a few days to his departure, the outgoing High Commissioner paid a farewell courtesy call on President Donald Ramotar, on Monday last, at the Office of the President and recalled the cordial and warm state of relations that existed at the time he became High Commissioner.
“I found that the cordiality and the warmth has not diminished but deepened,” Commissioner Mandal said, reiterating the commitment of the Indian Government to support the development agenda of Guyana.
He made reference to the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), the medium through which the two countries can share development experiences and although acknowledging that relations at the economic level could have been much improved, the outgoing High Commissioner said it is on the “upswing”.
“We are getting more Indian entrepreneurs interested in Guyana, we have cooperated in Guyana’s agriculture diversification programme (spice, coconut) and we hope to continue doing more in Guyana,” Mr. Mandal said.
Scholarships from the Government of India are also on the list of accomplishments under the ITEC programme but, the Guyana National Stadium at Providence is perhaps the most noteworthy of endeavours under the partnership. The stadium was constructed with a US$6M grant from the Indian Government.
In November 2011, the Indian Government approved a “soft loan” to fund the construction of a state-of-the-art specialty hospital that is billed for construction at Liliendaal for which the government is at present undertaking preparatory works.
In February 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo and then Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran visited India to finalise the agreement to construct the 250-bed hospital which when completed, will be providing services including cardio-related and cosmetic surgeries, and organ transplants.
The Foreign Services Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted an appreciation ceremony for the outgoing High Commissioner, also on Monday last.