By Svetlana Marshall in Jamaica
GUYANA and Chile signed a “Statement of Intent for Cooperation in Mining and Energy” as well as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase collaboration in the area of language.
The Statement of Intent for Cooperation in Mining and Energy Cooperation Agreement, and the MOU between the “Andrés Bello” Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chile) and the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Guyana), were signed on Friday at the Montego Bay Convention Centre by Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and Chile’s Ambassador and Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alfonso Silva Navarro. It took place at the conclusion of bilateral talks with President David Granger and Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera.
The Statement of Intent provides a framework for the deepening of collaboration between Guyana and Chile by promoting the exchange of experiences and cooperation in the energy and mining sectors. Shortly after signing the agreement, Minister Greenidge explained that since the State visit by President David Granger to Chile in 2016, and the visit by the then Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to Guyana, the two countries have been collaborating closely on a number of areas of cooperation.
Guyana, Minister Greenidge said, has been taking advantage of Chile’s experience in the mining industry with focus on regulations and geological mapping in the field of mining and environmental management.
In May, 2017 a team of geologists from Chilean technical agency, Sernageomin, visited Guyana to conduct technical geological surveys and field work to assess the conditions within Guyana’s mining sector. The new agreement will build on the existing relationship.
Guyana and Chile had also agreed in 2016 to cooperate in the area of Language, and the MOU signed on Friday will set the foundations for the Foreign Service Institute and the “Andrés Bello” Diplomatic Academy to maintain regular contact and promote cooperation between them on the basis of mutual benefit and reciprocity.
But even in the absence of such agreement, Guyanese have already been benefiting in this area.
“Chilean Professors have come down to Georgetown and have been working with the Foreign Service Institute to enhance the language capacity in Spanish of public servants including officers within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Minister Greenidge pointed out.
The MOU will be facilitated through the exchange of experience, academic staff and students; the promotion of study and research and other areas of possible cooperation.
It is anticipated that the institutions will cooperate by exchanging information and experience connected with their respective study and research programmes, course, seminars and other academic, educational and training activities as well as exchange information and views on international trends and advances in the field of diplomatic training, study and research, as well as e-learning tools.
The agreements were signed on the sideline of the 39th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. Over the years, Chile has been developing close relationships with Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Guyana and Chile established diplomatic relations on July 22, 1971.
