By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Suriname’s House Speaker Dr. Jennifer Geerlings-Simons along with an 11 member delegation commenced a three day visit to Guyana beginning on Thursday, October 24.
Dr. Geerlings-Simons and her delegation met with President Donald Ramotar at his office this afternoon. Also in the meeting was Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon, Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira and Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
Dr. Geerlings-Simons told the media following the meeting which lasted for close to one hour that her expectation is to have fruitful exchange of ideas with her Guyanese counterparts.
“I expect to get a feel of what both parliaments feel like and to work with Guyana to decide on how we can work together,” she told reporters.
Dr. Geerlings-Simons visit is in response to an invitation extended by Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman.
According to Trotman, his invitation is in keeping with the commitment made by the previous Speaker, Ralph Ramkarran. Trotman in a previous statement emphasized that the nature of the visit should go beyond “merely meeting” with key members of the Government and the Opposition, and posited that it should formally establish a Guyana-Suriname Association to enhance relations between the two parliaments and peoples.
Among the packed agenda planned for the visit are courtesy calls on President Donald Ramotar, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Ministers of Government, Leader of the Opposition David Granger and Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan.
In addition, the delegation will also meet Members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Committee, Members of the Parliamentary Management Committee (PMC) and Members of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations.
The Alliance for Change (AFC) yesterday said it plans to raise issues relating to parliamentary democracy and cooperation between the legislator and executive when it meets with its Surinamese Parliamentary Counterpart.
