–at UNASUR/ BRICS Summit in Brazil

GUYANA’S President Donald Ramotar will be joining other Union of South American (UNASUR) Heads of State for a two-day high-level meet, beginning today, with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of emerging industrial nations.

The meeting, which is being held in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil, will see Guyana using the opportunity to establish global economic relations to explore new means of greater cooperation with these member states.
“One of the meetings that we have is with UNASUR and the BRICS countries… and I think it’s going to be looking at exploring areas where we can have greater cooperation with our country,” the President told the Government Information Agency (GINA) Sunday.
The Fortaleza caucus is the first such meeting between the BRICS and UNASUR, and foremost on its agenda is “Social Inclusion and Sustainable Development”. The conversation will be generally based on the theme, “Inclusive Growth: Sustainable solutions”.
According to the President, not only do UNASUR and the BRICS have a good relationship, but the latter has also indicated that it has plans for the establishment of another developmental bank, which will provide even more opportunities for countries.
“If you also have another such institution, then I think that Third World countries like ours can only benefit from that type of thing,” he said.
Guyana has immensely benefited from closer bilateral relations with BRICS nations, especially China and India, primarily in the areas of capacity building, economics, and cultural relations.
The President  also pointed out that Guyana has been working closely with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the  Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the  World Bank among other institutions,  and has thus far managed to maintain a very good relationship with them.
This summit is expected to conclude the finalisation of the US$100B New Development Bank (NDB), along with the launching of other much-anticipated initiatives, including a US$100B Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
President Ramotar also disclosed that among issues to be discussed are those that can provide mutual benefits to Guyana and other member states.
“We will give our ideas on how we think many of these countries can work better to maximise some of their presence in some of our areas, and we also have issues of mutual benefits to our countries,” he noted.
The Head of State emphasised that he is eager to meet with the other counterparts who will be present at the meeting. “We have had very good relationships, also with many of these countries in the past and I’m looking forward for the opportunity for meeting the Heads of States of many of the countries that are there,” he said.
The BRICS represent almost three billion people in the world’s developing or newly, emerging  economies, and has a combined nominal Gross Domestic Product of US$16 Trillion, and an estimated US$4 Trillion in combined foreign reserves.
UNASUR, which was created in 2008, is a multilateral organisation with has membership from 12 of the 13 nations in South America.
The relationship between India and Guyana has grown since formal ties were established in 1966 due to promotion of economic interests and the strengthening of cultural ties between the two countries.
In 2012, Guyana and China celebrated 40 years of close ties, after establishing diplomatic relations in 1972.
Last year, the BRICS Summit was held in Durban, South Africa.

(GINA)