GUYANA has a lot to offer internationally and Heads of its overseas Missions can help in promoting these areas, which can assist in its development, President Donald Ramotar said, Monday, to the diplomats, at the start of their discussions in the Guyana International Conference Centre, at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
The Head of State urged them by saying: “You can help us in many ways to popularise.”
He pointed out that the country has already developed a reputation as being one of the leaders in the whole issue of fighting against climate change, which is one of the most important issues the world is facing.
“It goes across developing and developed countries and, therefore, it affects all of us,” the President emphasised.
He added: “But, generally, we all would be affected by what is taking place and, therefore, the Third World and us, we have a possibility here of making an impact on the rest of the world and being among the leaders of those fighting climate change.”
Mr. Ramotar noted that scientists are already there and telling how devastating climate change would be for us.
“I think most people are convinced of the dangers if we don’t do anything to prevent this producing of carbons and other things that can harm our environment,” he said.

ALLIANCES
The President suggested the formation of alliances and relationships with governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and all those interested in fighting against climate change.
To this end, he alluded to the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and said Guyana had a very big impact in Rio, Brazil, recently, and was invited to speak at many important forums, which gives recognition to the role that it can play in this regard.
“And, therefore, you, yourselves, have to be plugged into that. You have to understand what is taking place within our society and how we can move things along,” the Head of State said.
He insisted that the country also has a lot to offer in other areas of international concern, including food security, which is now becoming a very important issue in the world.
“We have a possibility that we can even increase our own food security and increase the food security of our CARICOM Region, because we have very good conditions for agricultural production. We have land, we have fresh water and we have very good farmers who can help us,” President Ramotar stated.
He said Guyana needs to look at new techniques and new crops to diversify and take advantage of what is taking place.
“We have gone a far way from where we came but, also for us to make the next step, the next leap forward, we have to look at the new kinds of infrastructure that we need,” he acknowledged.
The Head of Government noted, too, that infrastructure development is becoming central to developing the country and included hydropower.

BRIEFING
He said: “I have even invited the Opposition to give them a full briefing on this project, because I think it is far too important for it to become a political football and I think it is central to the development of our economy.”
Reminding that Guyana is looking at linkages with Suriname, by bridging the Corentyne River, Mr. Ramotar also referred to the Ogle International Airport, working towards building of a deep water harbour and works to be done on the road from Linden to Lethem.
“We can become a bridge for the Caribbean towards South America,” he declared.
He said, while the Region has to continue to treasure and to try to expand and build on the relationship it has, historically, with North America and Europe in particular, because of the shifting international economic relations that are taking place, it has to look at broadening relations.
“Some of the things that leaders, who came before us were talking about, South-South cooperation at that time, they probably had good foresight to see that possibility but, maybe, they didn’t have the conditions for that to develop. But, clearly, now the situation has changed and the possibility for South-South cooperation is much, much stronger at this point in time,” he posited.
Continuing, he said: “Therefore, we have to take advantage of that and we have to expand and broaden our relationship with the South, as well. It also makes good sense, because, when you look at what is happening to many countries in the Caribbean, largely because of the crisis that exists, not because of any fault of theirs but because of the crisis that exists in North America and in Europe, the impact is severe on many of our countries in the CARICOM Region.”
“So it makes sense that, if we want to immunise ourselves from other regions and other countries’ crisis, it is important for us to try to broaden the relations that we have and to make them much, much wider and create other areas so that anyone that comes into crisis, the effect on us will be minimal.
“We are a small country with a lot of vulnerabilities and what happens internationally is very important to us and affects us as well, and, therefore, we have to come up with new ideas and new positions in also trying to immunise ourselves from those developments,” he lectured the envoys.
The President said, too, that they have to look at other areas of cooperation in the interest of the Guyanese people, such as in education, housing, health, and tourism.
Referring to tourism, he said: “We are trying to work and create new alliances, new relationships with the rest of the Caribbean and this is an area, I think, that our Heads of Missions can begin to focus on to work with our Ministry of Tourism because it has huge potential.”