–At BRICS meet in Brazil

PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has described as positive his meeting on Wednesday evening with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and China’s President Xi Jinping in neighbouring Brazil. He said that not only was he satisfied with the positive outcomes of their discussions, but that efforts will be made to further strengthen whatever economic, social, cultural and other types of relations exist between Guyana and each of the two countries.
President Ramotar was in neighbouring Brazil for the sixth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit which concluded yesterday. He was accompanied by Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh.
While there, he requested the help of Indian experts in exploring Guyana’s hydrocarbon resources, a burgeoning sector, as well for its legal sector.
Guyana and India already enjoy a very high level of co-operation in the areas of infrastructure development, mining, and information technology, and the latter has been offering the former lines of credit on a regular basis. The two leaders have expressed their desire to build even further on these areas of cooperation.
China and Guyana also have strong ties in the fields of infrastructure, mining, forestry, banking, construction and shipping. Both leaders have also committed to building on their relationship in these and other emerging sectors.
The leaders of the BRICS held closed-door talks in Brasilia with counterparts from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and other Latin American nations.
The gathering follows a BRICS-only summit Monday in the seaside city of Fortaleza, where the five nations agreed to the creation of a $50B Bank for infrastructure projects, and a $100B crisis reserve fund which has been nicknamed “a mini-IMF”.