PRESIDENT David Granger will today confer Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira with the Order of Roraima (OR) at an Investiture Ceremony at the Ministry of the Presidency.Minister Vieira is on his first official visit to Guyana, and it is regarded as a follow-up to the discussions held between President Granger and his Brazilian counterpart, President Dilma Rousseff, during the MERCOSUR Summit in Brasilia in July 2015.

During the visit, a meeting will also be held with Foreign Affairs Minister, Vice President Carl Greenidge, on matters relating to the Guyana/Brazil bilateral cooperation programme and on issues of mutual interest on the regional and global agenda.

Guyana and Brazil have, over the years, enjoyed cordial relations. Brazil has provided military assistance to Guyana in the form of warfare training and logistics. And bilateral relations between the countries have recently increased as a result of Brazil’s new South-South foreign policy, aimed at strengthening South American integration.

In 2010, then President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, had conferred the Order of Excellence, Guyana’s highest award, on outgoing Brazilian President, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

More recently, the Government has re-engaged a Brazilian company, which had placed interest in the prospects of establishing a hydro project in the Mazaruni.

Discussions have been undertaken through high-level meetings. The last time both parties met was in April 2015, when a pre-feasibility analysis was submitted.

Minister of Public Infrastructure (MPI), David Patterson, told the Natural Resources Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday that the company can provide up to 3000 MGW of electricity, with 85 per cent supply guaranteed for the Brazilian Government, five per cent for Guyana, and the remainder will be under the purview of the Guyanese authorities, if it is needed.