…identified issues to be discussed including illegal border entry, trafficking, piracy and trade
By Vanessa Narine
THE Surinamese Parliamentary delegation, headed by Speaker of the House, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, met with the local Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations in the Parliament Chambers yesterday.

And agreed in principle to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that supports regular engagement of both bodies, as well as provide a formal structure within which such engagement can be advanced.
They acknowledged the need to address issues of illegal border entry, human and drug trafficking and piracy, agriculture, housing, integration of Surinamese and Guyanese, trade, tourism and other areas of collaboration
Chair of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations, Deborah Backer, told the group that the MOU will assist in preventing the two countries from dropping the ball as it relates to continuing engagement and also prevent both parties from having to reinvent the wheel at future meetings.
“There is much we can learn from each other,” she said.

Geerlings-Simons agreed with the need for a structured contact agreement, as she termed it, and pointed out that Suriname has similar agreements with other countries.
“We have the experience of working with other parliaments,” she said.
Suriname’s Parliamentary Speaker added that such an agreement can settle on the regularity of meetings, the host country of the meetings and the agenda for the sessions.
She acknowledged that the agreement will ensure that engagements can continue even when the make-up of both parliaments changes.
Also recommended was the establishment of a joint technical team to set the agenda for the parliamentarians to address.
The suggestion of an agreement was endorsed by members of both the Surinamese delegation and members of Guyana’s Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations.
The agreement is expected to be signed after both countries have the go-ahead from their respective parliaments.

STEPPING STONE
Geerlings-Simons pointed out that the suggestion underscores the need for parliaments that share commonalities to meet and could be a stepping stone to that objective.
According to her, representation has been made to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) by Suriname’s Parliament to have the Parliaments of UNASUR members meet.
She related that the organisation’s Secretary General has received the suggestion with optimism and a meeting can be expected next year – an effort Guyana could support Suriname with.
“Suriname has indicated that we will be the bridge between UNASUR and CARICOM (Caribbean Community),” Geerlings-Simons said.
The Speaker of the Suriname Parliament agreed that this could be a trend that CARICOM follows to have parliamentary delegations from its member states engage each other.