France has expressed an interest in building the Corentyne River Bridge which will link the South American nations of Guyana and Suriname.
This is according to a statement posted by the Department of Public Information (DPI).
The statement noted that Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill this morning met with Ambassador of the French Republic to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, His Excellency Antoine Joly and team.
The visiting delegation comprised the Ambassador along with Mr. Jean-Francois Gerin, Mr. Christophe Sureau, Mrs. Christine Sureau, Mr. Yorgo Hernandez and Mr. Philippe Lamouret.
It was explained that during the meeting, prospective areas for future collaboration were discussed.
“The French Ambassador shared interest in the maintenance of Guyana’s vessels and building of the Corentyne River Bridge,” the statement revealed.
Minister Edghill said the French will be more than welcomed to submit their Expressions of Interest for that project, as well as other projects on the transformational agenda of the Government.
The Public Works Minister also expressed his interest in building the capacity of the local workforce through collaboration with the French.
He pointed out the importance of maintenance works to the local fleet of vessels, especially since two are currently in dry dock, awaiting repairs.
The Ambassador welcomed the thought of collaboration between the two countries in the near future.
in October 2020, Suriname’s Public Works Minister, Dr Riad Nurmohamed and Guyana’s Public Works Minister Juan Edghill had visited the site of the proposed Guyana-Suriname River Bridge across the Corentyne River.
In November 2020, Guyana and Suriname signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of the bridge. The MoU was signed by Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugh Todd, and his Surinamese counterpart, Albert Ramdin, at the Presidential Palace in Paramaribo.
In December 2020, Canada had expressed an interest in constructing the bridge.
During an exclusive interview with this publication, outgoing Canadian diplomat Lilian Chatterjee had explained that the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) is among several organisations interested in building the bridge.
The Corentyne River Bridge will not only link the two neighbouring countries of Guyana and Suriname, but also open up access to greater economic opportunities beyond them into French Guyana, and through the road network being developed into Brazil, and eventually further into South America.
