President Bharrat Jagdeo has awarded four persons on their achievements and outstanding contributions to the social, democratic and scientific development of Guyana.
The president presented plaques to Dr Suresh Narine and Yash Paul Soi at a ceremony hosted at State House on Saturday, a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said. The other two honourees, Ramesh Kalicharran and Pandit Ramlall, are currently overseas.
Jagdeo told the recipients and an audience that included their relatives and other well-wishers that the ceremony was to publicly recognise them for their contributions. Soi, who is an Indian national, along with Kallicharran and Ramlall were heavily involved in supporting PPP founder leader and late President Dr Cheddi Jagan in the struggle for democracy in Guyana.
“Most of you know that those three decades of undemocratic rule took a significant toll on Guyana, not just in terms of development but in terms of losing its most valuable assets, its people…most of them had to migrate to seek their fortune elsewhere because of depression and the lack of freedom,” Jagdeo noted.
According to GINA, Dr Narine pioneered the introduction of bio diesel technology and investments in Guyana. He is the Director of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology and the Trent Centre for Biomaterials Research in Canada.
He was also awarded a $1.25 million Ontario Research Chair in Green Chemistry and Engineering from the Council of Ontario Universities, in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in 2010 and a $3 million senior industrial research chair in biomaterials from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Dr Narine has made significant achievements at a very young age, the president said, adding that “We are extremely proud of him …and [are] also very appreciative of the fact that he has been spending quite a lot of time here helping in the very exciting but difficult task of changing Guyana for the better.”
