ON September 10, 2025, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to President Dr. Irfaan Ali on his recent re-election as President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China,President Xi Jinping noted that Guyana was the first country in the Caribbean region to establish diplomatic relations with China.

China reminded of the over the 53 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations. China-Guyana relations have since gained sound and stable development, with fruitful results in pragmatic co-operation across various fields and close coordination on multilateral affairs.

In July 2023, the two presidents met in Chengdu and reached important common understandings on the development of bilateral relations.

President Xi Jinping had expressed his readiness to work with President Ali to deepen mutually beneficial and friendly co-operation within the framework of high-quality Belt and Road co-operation and continuously promote China-Guyana relations to new heights, so as to bring greater benefits to the people of both countries.

In 2024, bilateral trade between China and Guyana reached US$1.4 billion, up 14.3 per cent year-on-year and nearly four times higher than in 2019. China’s direct investment in Guyana also surged from US$256 million in 2019 to US$10.6 billion in 2024, representing a fortyfold increase. Signature projects, including the New Demerara River Bridge, six regional hospitals, and the China-aided China-Guyana Friendship Joe Vieira Park, will become iconic landmarks of the ever-growing China-Guyana friendship. Chinese enterprises have fulfilled social responsibilities by creating nearly 5,000 jobs for the local community and actively participating in public welfare activities, such as poverty alleviation, educational assistance, and charitable donations.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Guyana have grown closer and more dynamic. The Chinese government has dispatched 20 medical teams to Guyana since 1993, providing healthcare to over 1,310,000 patients, treating more than 30,000 critically ill cases, and performing over 70,000 surgeries. The Confucius Institute at the University of Guyana has played a vital role in cultivating local Chinese language talents and advancing China-Guyana cultural exchanges since its establishment in 2014.

Meanwhile, numerous Guyanese officials, doctors, entrepreneurs, journalists, policemen, and engineers have undertaken professional and technical training in China, emerging as key participants, beneficiaries, and promoters of China-Guyana people-to-people exchanges.