–says he looks forward to their forging even closer ties

PRESIDENT David Granger on Friday spoke highly of the longstanding relationship between Guyana and India, a bond that was forged some 150 years ago with the coming of the first wave of indentured émigrés to these shores.

He said he’s particularly appreciative of the support we’ve been having over the years with restructuring the embattled sugar industry, and even more so in the advancement of its ‘green’ development agenda and the development of the country’s renewable energy resources in accord with the ‘Green State Development Strategy’ (GSDS).

“Guyana looks forward to intensifying its cooperation with India in order to advance its ‘green’ development agenda,” President Granger said.
“We are heartened by India’s offer to develop Guyana’s renewable energy resources in accord with our ‘Green State Development Strategy’.

“Guyana welcomes India’s offer to assist in reforming the sugar industry and to enhance trade, investment and collaboration in the fields of agriculture, education, mining and renewable energy, among others,” he told guests of the Indian High Commission gathered at the Marriott Hotel on Friday evening to mark India’s 69th Independence Anniversary.

President Granger said that Guyana stands firm in its friendship with India, and recommitted to renewing and reinforcing existing commitments to cooperation.
He sees the planned visit to India next week of a high-level Guyanese delegation led by Foreign Minister, Carl Greenidge as having the potential to advance those relations, and result in the signing of even more mutually beneficial agreements.

He said that relations such as those enjoyed by Guyana and India are “unshakably founded on mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, cooperation for mutual benefit, respect for treaties and international law and the maintenance of international peace and security,” which are all principles enshrined in the Sanskrit words, ‘panch sheel’, meaning ‘five virtues.’

“India continues to contribute to Guyana’s economic development,” President Granger said, adding:
“Our two Republics have signed agreements for development projects in the fields of education, drainage and irrigation, health-care, information communications technology and transportation, among others.

“The threat of climate change is real for low-lying coastal states. Guyana, although a negligible contributor to global carbon emissions, remains committed to working with countries such as India to find solutions to this global threat.

“The two states have been bound by ties of blood and history for nearly 150 years, since May 5, 1838, when Indian indentured immigrants first began to arrive in British Guiana.”