— President Granger urges South American states as he wraps up visit to Brazil

PRESIDENT David Granger has committed to ensuring Guyana realises its continental destiny while strengthening relations and cooperation among South American states.

On Thursday, the President assured members of the diplomatic community and Guyanese in Brasilia, Brazil, that relations between Guyana and Brazil can only get stronger.
He was at the time attending a reception hosted in honour of his state visit to Brazil by Ambassador George Talbot, Guyana’s diplomatic representative in that country.

The President described his meeting with Brazil’s President Michel Temer as a reaffirmation of the warmth which characterises the relationship between the two countries.
“This is a visit of friendship; this is a visit of cordiality; this is a visit of partnership. So my visit today has been very significant not only in terms of the signing of agreements, but also with renewing the cooperation with Brazil, looking at our borders, looking at education and also looking at the role that the Brazilian army has been playing in Guyana, a peaceful role and not an aggressive role,” he said.

The President said too that the prosperity of the states on the continent is dependent on it remaining a zone of peace and noted that continued cooperation and good relations will have a positive economic impact in the region.

“We should not sit on our hands. We should not allow other regions of the world, other continents to simply dominate the world’s economy. Brazil, which occupies 50 per cent of the land space of this continent is already a member of the BRIC [acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China], which are described as being in a state of newly advanced economic development community, but there is no reason why the other 11 states in this continent should not share the bonanza. “We do not need to be poor, but I do believe that with better cooperation, prosperity can be shared more evenly throughout this continent,” he stated.

President Granger reminded that Brazil has been a reliable partner in the defence of its territorial integrity. The country has always maintained its support for Guyana in the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy.

“I’ve referred rather extravagantly, but rather correctly to Brazil as being the guarantor of Guyana’s territorial integrity. Brazil has borders with every country in this continent except two; and Brazil from the outset has stated that it has no interest in upsetting or revising any border, which has been determined by international law and that has been the bedrock of our relationship with the Federative Republic of Brazil for nearly half of a century.

I’m very confident, given the consistency and the continuity that we’ve always seen in Itamaraty, that we’ll always be able to rely on Brazil as a friend and a neighbour,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Marcos Galvão, said in 2018 the two countries will be celebrating 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations. The anniversary, he said, will come with an unprecedented increase in bilateral relations between the two countries.

“Brazil attributes the utmost importance to the bond of friendship and cooperation that unite our peoples and countries. Today’s presidential meeting has set another milestone in the deepening of our bilateral partnership, which has focused on common interest and areas of great potential, such as infrastructure, economic and commercial development, energy, technical cooperation, and border integration.

At this time of international uncertainties, there is nothing more encouraging than a partnership based on shared principles as the one between Brazil and Guyana,” he said.

Guyana and Brazil established formal diplomatic ties on December 18, 1968. Both countries have a shared respect for democracy as a universal value and a shared commitment to the protection of international human rights.

(Ministry of the Presidency)