GUYANA’S profile as a significant player on the international stage was given a boost with the emergence of the country as an oil-producing nation. With Guyana set to be among the highest per capita oil producer in the near future, the country has been attracting much attention not only from investors but from the global community as a whole.

Interest in Guyana; however, long predated oil. Ever since the country attained internal self-government and with the rise of nationalist leaders, attention was focused on the political and ideological orientation of the PPP Government which created history by sweeping the polls in the elections of 1953, the first to be held under universal adult suffrage. The PPP regime, a mere six months later, was overthrown from office after the British Government felt uncomfortable with the leftist-orientation of the PPP. The Constitution was suspended and the PPP under the leadership of the charismatic Dr. Cheddi Jagan forcibly removed from office. The suspension of the Constitution catapulted the then colony into the international spotlight as it represented one of the few countries in the hemisphere where a left-wing political party won political power through constitutional means.

Attention in the country was again high after the PNC regime took office in 1964 through, what was described by former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson ‘as a fiddled constitutional arrangement’, one unknown in the entire British Commonwealth. The British Government took a decision to change the electoral laws to allow for a change from the first past the post to proportional representation which allowed for two or more political parties to form a coalition government. The PNC and the UF joined forces to remove the PPP from government in 1964 and under the leadership of Forbes Burnham, the PNC regime began a process of rigged elections which lasted until 1985.  Under pressure from the Carter Centre, the Hoyte administration agreed to hold free and fair elections after nearly three decades of undemocratic rule. Guyana, during that period, was under close observation by the international community, albeit in a negative way as many countries and international institutions refused to do business with the country. Guyana at one time was considered a ‘pariah’ state with the IMF describing the PNC administration as “uncreditworthy”.

And not to be ignored was the outpouring of condemnation by the international community after the APNU+AFC once again attempted to steal the March 2020 elections. The bogus results fabricated by the Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) were eventually overturned, thanks to the intervention of the Courts and the international community and Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali was sworn-in as the duly elected President of Guyana.

Guyana under the leadership of President Ali has once again taken its rightful place as a democracy in the global community of nations and is today a key player in international relations both at the regional and international levels. Some $278M has been allocated to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, which according to subject Minister, Gail Teixeira, is intended to raise the country’s profile and promote Guyana as a leader on issues that are at the top of the PPP/C Government agenda. That sum, she said, will allow for the participation of Guyana at international conferences, preparing reports to various international levels on treaties which have been ratified by the Guyana Government and the acquisition of technical support. The main intention, according to the minister, is for the country to play a vital leadership role internationally in governance, human rights and anti-corruption.

The budget also makes provision for $1.6B, which according to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd, will ensure the enhancement of Guyana’s presence abroad while at the same time building capacity of staff based locally and abroad. According to the Foreign Minister, the sums allocated will greatly facilitate the diplomatic work of the ministry as it seeks to lift Guyana’s profile in the international arena. In fact, the Guyana Government is reportedly seeking to have a place as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council which, if successful, will further raise the country’s international profile not only in the region but in the world at large.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have been elected so far to serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and Guyana’s election to that 15-member Council will place the country at the helm of global leadership at the United Nations. Guyana had already held the position as Chair of the United Nations General Assembly and as Chair of the Group of 77 (G-77) which is the largest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries in the United Nations which has as its overall objective the advancement of South-South co-operation and for the countries of the South to promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues within the United Nations system.

Under the dynamic and energetic leadership of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Guyana is once again winning the respect of the international community. The country may be relatively small in size, but certainly large in terms of visionary thinking and ideas on how to advance the cause of humanity.