THE benefits that Guyana would have accrued in the fields of infrastructure, economic and technical assistance, human resource development and investment, through its longstanding relations with the People’s Republic of China, are to continue under new Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Zhang Limin.

He presented his letters of credence to President Donald Ramotar yesterday and vowed to continue the “time-honoured” friendship which the two countries have been sharing over the last four decades.
“During my tenure in office on this post, I will exhort my efforts to further develop the friendly relations and cooperation between China and Guyana and the friendship between our two peoples,” Ambassador Limin assured President Ramotar.
Guyana is the first country in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to establish diplomatic ties with China, but there has been a link between the two that dates back to 1853, when Chinese immigrants arrived in Guyana to work as indentured servants.
Guyana and China celebrated 40 years of diplomatic relations on June 27 this year. Within recent years, China has emerged as one of Guyana’s main non-traditional export markets, along with India and Brazil.
Guyana exports approximately 34 products to China on a yearly basis, and recently received two new roll-on/roll-off ferry vessels and benefited from military air corps pilot and engineer training.
Laptops for Guyana’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme were supplied by the Chinese owned Haier Electrical Appliance Limited, and more recently, the Great Wall Computer Shenzhen Company Limited.
In health, the Chinese roving medical missions have been visiting Guyana over the last 20 years to supplement health care services. The construction of the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) and a modern sugar factory at Skeldon are also tangible products of the Guyana/China partnership.
The two countries have over the years benefited from people to people contacts, especially with the plethora of Chinese businesses. In June, Secretary to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tianjin Municipal Committee, Zhang Gaoli, visited Guyana with hopes of building linkages.
“The government and people of Guyana are especially grateful to China for the tangible contributions which we have received in several areas,” President Ramotar said.

Guyana and China have been signing agreements to boost priority projects in the areas of transportation, health care, training and culture during the Eleventh Session for the Guyana/China Joint Commission on Economic Trade and Technical Cooperation.
At that forum, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan announced US$1 billion of preferential loans to support the local economic development of Caribbean countries.
President Ramotar conveyed to the new Chinese Ambassador, the Guyana Government’s desire to see China’s partnerships with the Caribbean and Latin America strengthened. (GINA)