ON THE occasion of Arrival Day 2016, the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana recognizes all the people of Guyana for your resilience, fortitude and unwavering dedication to nationhood. The peoples who came to this blessed land, many under unspeakable circumstances, have each toiled and sacrificed and endured hardship for us to have achieved as we have and for us to be, this year, celebrating 50 years as an independent, sovereign and free nation. We stand on the shoulders of those who have fought and struggled for the freedoms we now enjoy.On Arrival Day we celebrate the coming of our peoples to this land and we also celebrate the “coming together” of our peoples in this land. Our ancestry is diverse; our destiny is inextricably and irrevocably intertwined. We are, as our motto instructs, one people, one nation with one destiny.

From a common history of inhumane conditions our peoples persevered and cooperated in forging a cultural mosaic into a tightly woven rainbow nation of diverse peoples with a united spirit and common destiny.

Arrival Day affords us too, an opportunity to reflect on our triumphs and challenges. On this Arrival Day, in the year of our Golden Jubilee, we reaffirm the Guyanese spirit of tolerance, inclusivity and brotherhood and a unified vision for a progressive, prosperous and cohesive Guyana for all its peoples.