GUYANA and Suriname have agreed to jointly patrol the Corentyne River and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Rear Admiral Gary Best said, yesterday, the local Army will be ready for such duties in about six months.
Addressing a press conference, hosted

by Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee in his Brickdam, Georgetown office, Best said the decision, about the involvement of law enforcement personnel, was taken following a two-day visit by a Guyanese delegation to Suriname to continue the presidential engagement in respect of the security sector and intelligence cooperation between the two countries.
The Army Chief said both countries will each have a patrol to address smuggling and piracy in the Corentyne River and within the coastline.
Giving his impression of the engagement, Best said it was his third encounter with the Surinamese National Army and, two and half years ago, the energy between the two forces were clear in working together, given the determination.
He added that the political implication is to maximise their similarities and minimise the differences between the two militaries in the highest level of governance.
Best engaged the Surinamese National Army in discussions on trans-border crime and how the military can work with law enforcement agencies.
He said that joint support between the two countries in law enforcement and joint operations in the Corentyne River were discussed at length.

Own resources
“We will have our own resources but it will be crewed by law enforcement persons and the GDF supports the police, but they have a Surinamese Navy that can operate in the Corentyne River and we have the Coast Guard for joint operation to deal with piracy and smuggling,” Best explained.
He said he believes the GDF has a role to play in countering criminal activities and also touched on mutual support in the two militaries.
“They offered training exchanges since we have a Cadet and Sergeant Schools here,” he explained.
Best noted their willingness to visit Guyana in building relations and to establish lines of communications, information sharing for joint operations in support of law enforcement in dealing with smuggling and piracy within the Corentyne River and within the coastline of the two countries.
Minister Rohee led the September 6-7 team which also comprised Acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell and Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur.
During the two-day discussions with their counterparts, it was unanimously agreed that they be called the ‘Jagdeo/Bouterse initiative’ because the process was started under the two Presidents although it continues under President Donald Ramotar.
Rohee said the respective representatives held bilateral engagements, Best with his counterpart on military cooperation; Brumell on Police collaboration and Sattaur on Customs cooperation.
The Minister said, at the end of the meeting, it was jointly concluded that it was productive, useful and in the interest of both nations in solidifying the bilateral relations in the area of security and intelligence cooperation.

Large swath
Rohee stated that the engagement, in the Guyanese view, had grown, bodes well for the respective institutions and covered quite a large swath of issues, such as trafficking in narcotics and persons, weapons smuggling, illegal migration, piracy and contraband goods and services.
He said he left Suriname with a sense of high optimism and degree of cordiality between the two sides.
Brumell, in his remarks, said he was elated with the visit after having met the Surinamese Police Commissioner and other law enforcement personnel with whom he previously had conversations twice.
It was decided that joint cooperation was needed as well as information sharing and points of contacts were established with the exchange of phone numbers etc., he said.
The Top Cop said that joint patrols between Suriname and Guyana law enforcement would be a means of suppressing crime that focuses on smuggling and piracy in the Corentyne River.
Sattaur said the visit was arranged by the Office of the President (OP) and Rohee, and their task was to report on initiatives taken over the years since 2011 when the ‘Jagdeo/Bouterse initiative’ started.

Touching base
He said it was more or less touching base with their counterparts to be updated with the actions and successes they have achieved and a review before they visited made them familiar with the issues to be addressed.
Sattaur revealed that in excess of US$10M in goods were imported to Guyana from Suriname and more than US$5M in taxes were collected since 2011.
In recent times, through lapses by both parties, there were slippages and measures were put in place to counter them with a bond at Corriverton, Berbice, to store goods, which caused some concerns among the business people there, he said.
Sattaur said: “We have a team going up there to do some assessment because big boats are loaded with goods in Suriname but in mid-stream goods are transferred to smaller boats and some goods end up back in Suriname and Guyana as smuggled goods which is of concern.”