THE Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Basil Williams held talks on Thursday with Consular Chief of the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Jerome Epping on Guyana becoming compliant with The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption.

The minister expressed his interest in ensuring that Guyana subscribes to this convention as the country aims to protect and safeguard all its children, a release from the Legal Affairs Ministry stated.

Epping, who was accompanied by the Political and Economic Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy, Alexandra King Pile, conveyed his desire to see Guyana take on the processes which will ensure added protection for children against abduction and trafficking.

The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Convention) is an international agreement to safeguard inter-country adoptions. The Convention process provides additional protections to children, prospective adoptive parents, and birth parents.

The primary principles of the Convention are to ensure that each adoption is in the best interest of the child and to prevent the abduction, sale, and trafficking of children. Also present at the meeting were Mr. Charles Fung-A-Fat, Chief Parliamentary Counsel; Ms. Joann Bond, Principal Parliamentary Counsel; Ms. Diane Woolford, Parliamentary Counsel and Ms. Ananda Dhurjon of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.