PRIME Minister and First Vice-President, Moses Nagamootoo, on Wednesday evening received Dr. Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The prime minister, who is performing the functions of the President, received the UN official at his official residence, the Department of Public Information (DPI) said in a release. The senior UN official, on a one-day visit to Guyana, was accompanied by the Guyana-born Regional Adviser, Kenroy Roach, and Officer-in-Charge of UNDP’s Guyana Office, Andrea Heath-London.

During the hour-long meeting, the UN envoy briefed the Prime Minister on several programmes in which UNDP is involved in Guyana, including drafting of the ‘Green’ State Development Strategy (GSDS). He expressed satisfaction with the level of collaboration between the UN agency and the Government of Guyana.

The prime minister, who holds ministerial responsibilities for Constitutional Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, explained the constructive role of UNDP in assisting to develop Guyana’s governance practices, and in sponsoring programmes that address some of the UN sustainable development goals. Dr. Lopez-Calva, a Mexican economist, has been a former senior World Bank adviser, and the lead author of the 2017 World Development Report on “Governance and the Law”. He has also been the Chairman of the Network on Inequality and Poverty in the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association.

Country Adviser, Kenroy Roach, has been coordinating youth employment programmes in some 60 countries. An economic development specialist, he is a PhD Fellow at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Also at the meeting was Tondicka Austin, UNDP desk officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (DPI)