— Minister Dr Ashni Singh

PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali and a high-level delegation including Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo are currently in Washington D.C. meeting with several high-level US officials to advance the strategic shared interest between the two countries.

This is according to Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, who stated that based on the composition of the delegation currently overseas, one can judge the importance that has been attached to the visit.

The President has thus far fielded meetings with the US Secretary of State, representatives of the US Department of Commerce and other senior members of the US administration.

This visit, he said, is of significant importance for both countries.

“This visit is of tremendous strategic importance; we see it as an opportunity to reaffirm both sides to reaffirm our commitment to the highly valued partnership that we share with the United States of America and also to advance our shared strategic interests,” the Finance Minister said.

The visit comes on the heels of the recently held Summit of the Americas, where President Ali had engagements with US President Joe Biden and other leaders, including US Vice-President, Kamala Harris and even engagements with other leaders within the hemisphere.

There were a number of important outcomes from the Summit of the Americas, especially in specific areas, including agriculture and food security. In these areas, Guyana was also selected to co-chair the special select committee between the United States and CARICOM to advance the food-security agenda, even as Guyana is also participating in committees on finance and energy.

Dr Singh revealed that there are a number of initiatives on which Guyana has been collaborating closely with the US Administration, and as such, there will be a number of follow-up discussions in Washington during the course of the week.

“We anticipate coming out of the visit, very significant and substantial tangible outcomes. I don’t want to preempt the meetings that are yet to happen, but I can assure you that there are going to be very significant demonstrable and tangible outcomes coming out of this visit,” he said.

Dr Singh noted that there has been some commentaries from the usual naysayers attempting to understate the importance of the visit.

As such, he said he is amused by the attempts to trivialise the visit by these “traditional naysayers” and contended that people should watch and see how the visit evolves and the outcomes that will emerge.

“It’s a visit from which we anticipate very significant demonstrable and tangible outcomes in advancing our shared interest with the United States of America,” he said.

President Ali is accompanied by Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd and Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud. During their meeting with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Don Greaves, a commitment was made to support Guyana’s banking, finance, and tourism sectors as well as US private-sector investment into Guyana.

The President has also reaffirmed the strong relationship between Guyana and the US and reiterated that the US is a valued partner in development. President Ali noted that the goal for the week’s visit is to bring harmonisation between the plans and programmes of Guyana and the aspirations of the US, both at the governmental level and private-sector levels.