-says Rubio’s visit was an opportunity to showcase country’s remarkable economic transformation under the PPP/C, counter misrepresentations by detractors

THE growing strategic partnership and shared prosperity between Guyana and the United States (U.S.) was marked by the high-level visit of U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has highlighted.

During his weekly press conference at Freedom House, the General Secretary who also serves as Guyana’s Vice-President said that the Government of Guyana warmly welcomed Rubio, who made his first official visit to Guyana since assuming office nine weeks ago.

Discussions centred around matters of national interest and the growing bilateral relationship, he said.

“As he himself (Rubio) pointed out, Guyana has a strong relationship with the United States of America, and there is a mutual commitment to grow that relationship,” Dr. Jagdeo said, adding that Guyana has expressed its profound gratitude to the U.S. for its unequivocal support in the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.

The Vice-President said: “We are extremely grateful to the Government of the United States of America for its strong support on the border matter, its commitment to recognise the 1899 arbitral award as the final and complete satisfaction of the process of the demarcation of our borders, which took place in 1905 that settled the matter of our borders, and their strong support to ensure that that border is respected.”

SOLID FOOTING
Guyana’s remarkable economic transformation and its journey from a period marked by an unsustainable economy and burdensome debt servicing under the People’s National Congress (PNC) were also discussed, Dr. Jagdeo told reporters.

While characterising Guyana today as one of the most robust macroeconomic frameworks, Dr. Jagdeo emphasised the nation’s solid fiscal fundamentals.

He said: “We discussed the long road that we have travelled from the past when we had an unsustainable economy where that debt service dominated to a situation now, when we have one of the most sustainable macro-economic frameworks in the world.

“Our macro fundamentals are so solid here, they’re better than most. In fact, I can take almost every developed country in the world.”
Rubio’s acknowledgment of Guyana’s transformative journey under the current government was also referenced by the Vice-President who underscored that the decisions being made by the government today are to ensure a bright future for all Guyanese.

During discussions with the Secretary of State, the vast opportunities within Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas sector were highlighted, Dr. Jagdeo said while explaining that a balanced and diversified approach to economic development, was stressed upon.

He told reporters: “We pointed out to the Secretary of State the huge opportunities in the oil and gas sector, but also our intense focus on several new goalposts to create the prosperity of the future.

“We’re committed in ensuring that the economy is developed in a balanced way, in a diversified way, so that we don’t suffer future shocks because of the volatility in global markets, in the oil and gas sector, that we maintain our prosperity long after oil has peaked and it starts to decline, and the only way to do so is to ensure that right now, the infrastructure, the policy and the investments are put in the new growth areas.”

Some of those growth goals for future prosperity were outlined by the government, he explained.

No other political party has done that, Dr. Jagdeo firmly opined while elaborating that the government has pointed out how investment flows in these areas are being stimulated.

MAKE THE FACTS KNOWN
The high-level visit fostered great understanding between the U.S. and Guyana and addressed matters that have been occasionally misrepresented, Dr. Jagdeo said.

This engagement countered deliberate distortions by detractors, some of whom are abroad or linked to opposition, he explained.

The Vice-President said: “We think the visit will enhance our relationship. It will clarify issues that, from time to time, get distorted on the way to the State Department or the U.S. government, that direct engagement will ensure that those who are deliberately distorting what we stand for, any of them live abroad, and some are here, some are from the opposition, that they will not succeed in doing that.

“We’re not whitewashing what we are, but we want the facts to be known about the PPP and the development of Guyana.”

He said that the visit allowed the government to create that mechanism where there will be no distortion as to what is going on in Guyana, what the motives and goals of the PPP are, and how they are positively impacting the lives of the people of Guyana.