THE Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud, on Thursday met with a delegation from China’s Shandong Province to discuss areas of co-operation and trade and investment between Guyana and the province.

In his remarks, the Foreign Secretary welcomed the delegation and urged greater collaboration I n areas of agriculture and industry, and assured them of Guyana’s continued commitment to address global issues such as poverty reduction.

While noting that exports to China have been increasing due to rising shipments of oil, he challenged the delegation to increase imports from Guyana, especially as it relates to trade in non-oil products.

Baiwei Chen, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government led the delegation and spoke of the commitment of the province to strengthen cultural and economic relations with Guyana.

Among areas for cooperation discussed were strengthening the work of the China-Caribbean Development Centre, located in the capital city of Shandong, Jinan, the hosting of a Caribbean Products Exhibition in Shandong later this year, and cultural exchanges between youths at the World Youth Conference in China.

Shandong Province is the third largest in China in terms of GDP, standing around US$1.8 trillion and is the biggest industrial producer and one of the top manufacturing provinces. It is also one of the leading provinces in terms of agricultural trade.