As Guyana seeks to strengthen its international agenda through diplomacy, President Dr Irfaan Ali is set to further strengthen ties with one of Guyana’s major bilateral partners – China.
The Head of State announced on Thursday that at the end of July, he “will be going on an official State visit to China”.
In 2022, Guyana and China observed 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
On that occasion, President Ali had noted that Chinese were not only contributors to Guyana’s development, they were also part of the country’s cultural heritage.
“Relations between Guyana and the People’s Republic of China are imperishable. Inseparable ties with China have brought tremendous development gains, have brought our people closer together,” he had stated.
The Guyanese leader further outlined that cooperation been the two countries straddled almost all areas of national development, including agriculture, culture, defence cooperation, education, health, information communication technology, infrastructural development, private investment, security, sport, trade, and transportation.
During his upcoming visit, President Ali is expected to have talks to advance cooperation in these and new areas.
The Head of State’s announcement on Thursday came in response to questions raised by the Opposition in the National Assembly on Guyana’s international relations.
According to the President, his Administration has had to work aggressively over the years to reverse the damage done to Guyana’s international standing after efforts by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) regime to steal the 2020 elections and derail democracy.
Today, he noted, the country has an active international agenda.
“Our foreign policy and our foreign engagement have never, ever been so active. Our activism on the international platform is growing from strength to strength… but with focus on diplomatic diplomacy, bilateral relations to ensure Guyana’s position on global issues is understood and that global support for Guyana is overwhelming.
“When I leave this country to attend meetings and to represent Guyana, it’s round-the-clock work… So, I find it disgusting for someone not to recognise the gains that we are making, but the results are there. As I am speaking to you now, we have major global investors who are engaging us on hydropower, agro-chemical, fertiliser plant, cement plant. This is the type of work we’re doing to positioning Guyana [on the global stage],” he stated.
The Guyanese leader reiterated his Government’s agenda to place Guyana as a global leader on food, energy and climate security. On this note, he highlighted the importance of engaging bilateral allies in achieve this.
Some of the countries Guyana has been engaging in this regard include the United States, the United Kingdom, Caricom (Caribbean Community) members, Middle Eastern nations, China, Canada, and South America neighbours.
President Ali pointed out that coming out of these bilateral engagements, Guyana is now benefiting from a slew of low-interest loans and grants for projects and initiatives geared towards advancing the country’s economic, infrastructural and social development.
Among these are a $100 million grant from Saudi Arabia to build a school facility for children with disabilities; a US$350 million loan from Qatar to extend the Schoonord to Crane four-lane highway to Parika; financing from the United Kingdom Infrastructure Fund and mounting interest from investors in Latin America.
“So, the economic diplomacy, our foreign policy, military diplomacy, climate diplomacy, food diplomacy, energy diplomacy – all of that is part of the work we’re doing… We are here building this country, making new partnerships and opening up opportunities… So as we advanced forward and continue to build the country in a strong and sustainable manner, our engagement globally will become stronger. Our engagement globally will be more frequently called up and we will have greater responsibility to shoulder and burden…”
“And with the type of global leadership that we want to produce and the type of inroads we want to make on the global platform, it definitely will require much, much more work… There is absolutely no hesitance from this President and this Government that the brand Guyana gets the best possible value on the global stage. This comes not only by travelling but by investing time, by reading, by analysing, by having a technical team of people working round-the-clock to support what you want to achieve…,” President Ali posited.
