Minister Rohee plugs need for hemispheric cooperation
–in face of threats to environment protection

HOME Affairs Minister, Mr Clement Rohee has given fellow Defence Ministers meeting in Peru every assurance that Guyana is supportive of the call to modernise and adapt the Inter-American Defence System to make it more relevant to the multi-dimensional challenges facing the nations individually and collectively.He made the pledge Sunday at the opening of the XI Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas (CDMA) ended yesterday in Arequipa, Peru.

He told his colleagues that in Guyana, “we practise inter-agency coordination in a civilian-led integrated approach to the various security and defence-related threats to our country, with the participation of our Defence Forces as a necessary and indispensable component.”

‘Any discussion on security in our hemisphere would be deficient unless attention is paid to the special security threats faced by the small islands and low-coastal states of the Caribbean’- Minister Rohee

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Noting that any discussion on security in our hemisphere would be deficient, unless attention is paid to the special security threats faced by the small islands and low-coastal states of the Caribbean, Rohee said that as a consequence, nowhere is the need for such hemispheric cooperation more necessary than in the threats related to environment protection.
“We in Guyana not only recognise the threat posed by environmental degradation, but are also greatly concerned with those posed by climate change,” he said.
Rohee told the conference that his delegation, therefore, supports the Five Thematic Axes of this 11th CDMA and all the proposed mechanisms aimed at improving collaboration and coordination of efforts in the areas of defence and security in general.
He pointed out that they “support the specific proposals related to the coordination of military conferences on defence issues, the mechanisms to collaborate on military health systems, the coordination of our efforts in the area of search and rescue, the defence sector involvement in environmental protection, sharing of lessons learned and information on the participation of women in the armed forces and the support for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.”

CHALLENGES
Rohee said Guyana is pleased to join the hemispheric discussion on the best ways to meet the challenges we face, which include narcotics, arms and human trafficking; climate change; illegal mining and logging and the resultant environmental degradation; natural disasters; health care; terrorism and other poverty- related issues.
He noted that “all the above threats serve to extend the remit of our defence sector leading to the need for their involvement in forensic sciences training and application, for example, in the identification of human remains and curbing the small arms trade through exporter/production identification.”
Rohee said, “Guyana, as an active Member of UNASUR fully supports and uphold the decisions to ensure that our hemisphere remain a zone of peace and hemispheric cooperation.”
The minister explained that Guyana supports the view expressed by Brazil that the CDMA in pursuit of its objectives and in keeping with its by-laws must adopt the necessary flexibility with a view to encouraging all countries of the hemisphere who have an interest in being part of CDMA to join in this important and august forum for the exchange of each other’s views and experiences.