THE Guyana-Brazil Frontier Committee is working to coordinate its responses to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and cross-border movement between the two countries.

On Friday the committee held a virtual, extraordinary meeting where officials from the two states focused on several key areas. They included the impact of the pandemic on regional economic activity; indigenous communities along the border; illegal crossings; security; joint patrols; support for vulnerable groups and trafficking in persons, among others.

A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that discussion generally centred on measures which could be taken to coordinate efforts to support the health and safety of the Region.

According to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Charlene Phoenix, who serves as leader of Guyana’s delegation to the virtual summit: “Given what we have been seeing with regard to the COVID-19 cases on both sides, we should have a discussion to ensure that we are coordinating our responses to the pandemic as closely as possible.”

As such, the two states have committed to combining efforts for information-sharing, especially in local dialects as well as in English, Portuguese and Spanish, to all communities along the border. They also expressed the intent to explore additional measures to keep the communities safe throughout the course of the pandemic.

Furthermore, the delegations shared the challenges they faced in their respective efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also representing Guyana and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) was the region’s Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Naail Uthman who expressed that while the region continues to adhere to the measures implemented by the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), a major challenge was the effective monitoring of the lengthy border shared by Guyana and Brazil, as many of the border communities have illegal crossing points.

“Officially, we have facilitated on Thursdays only the movement of goods and services from Brazil on which we know Guyana depends heavily,” he explained. Dr. Uthman further noted that a team has been established at the port to sanitise those goods and services.

The respective delegations were led by Ambassador Phoenix and Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Her Excellency Maria Duclos Carisio.
Guyana’s delegation also comprised Ambassador to Brazil, George Talbot; Consul General to Boa Vista, Shirley Melville and a number of representatives from the Ministries of Public Health, Communities, and Social Protection and from the Department of Citizenship.

The previous meeting of the Guyana-Brazil Frontier Committee was held in Bonfim, State of Roraima, Brazil, on October 30 and 31, 2018. Guyana was scheduled to host the eighth meeting but, due to challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries, the government recommended the convening of this extraordinary meeting.

The Guyana-Brazil Frontier Committee was established on September 14, 2009, to address joint action between the border communities.