By Francis Quamina Farrier 

PRESIDENT, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, was abroad last week on government business. Travelling over 8,500 miles to and from the United States of America, the Guyanese Head-of-State attended several meetings along the way, selling the various Guyanese products, so to speak, including the country’s tourism products. Any President Ali observer would realise that the 42-year-old energetic National Chief Executive, is happy with his job and setting a positive example for his other team members; the ministers of government and other high-level government functionaries whose professional support is vital for optimum all-round success in Guyana’s ongoing efforts to gain maximum returns, for its varied income generating projects, including “the new kids on the block”, oil and gas.

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to observe President Ali up close and transparent while in Washington, DC in the USA. That was, to some degree, unplanned, that we were in the same location simultaneously. It was after the president had already held meetings with a number of high-level American functionaries including United States Vice President, Kamla Harris and United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Don Greaves.
President Ali exhibits some amount of willingness to go the extra mile in any thousand-mile journey to market the various Guyanese products which are available for the World Market. His packed itinerary last week, travelling thousands of miles from Guyana and around the United States, gave him the opportunity yet again to be Guyana’s premier Sales Executive.

While in the USA, the principal meeting the president attended was with members of the Organisation of American States (OAS), which was held in Los Angeles, California. Before leaving the United States on his return to Guyana, President Dr. Irfaan Ali took the opportunity last Wednesday to be the guest of honour at a well-attended ‘Meet-and-Greet’ event in Washington, DC, which was organised by Ambassador Samuel Hinds and the Staff of the Embassy. In his feature address to his overseas-based fellow countrymen and women, the youthful Guyanese Head-of-State identified areas of development which his government is working on, such as reliable electricity, and to which those in the diaspora can also make meaningful contributions. Closely observing the 42-year-old president, who is exactly half my age, one can only expect so much from him for the ongoing development of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, both now and in the foreseeable future.