US Ambassador D Brent Hardt officially welcomed Daniel Smolka, Director of USAID/Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean to Guyana as oversight of the agency’s operations here has been transitioned to USAID Mission Barbados. According to a press statement from the US Embassy, the USAID Operating Unit in Guyana will continue to be served by a small Guyana-based staff who will liaise with local counterparts from the US Embassy in Georgetown.
Smolka is based in the USAID/Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean office in Bridgetown where he will provide management oversight for continuing USAID programmes in Guyana, including a wide range of health activities under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) geared to combating the threat of HIV/AIDS in Guyana.
USAID will also continue to implement its activities to provide skills, knowledge and training for at-risk youth under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative as well as the launching of new initiatives in democracy and governance to help build the capacity of the National Assembly and political parties.
Smolka had the opportunity to meet Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman and representatives of several ministries, including the ministries of Health, Youth, Culture and Sport, Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Finance and Natural Resources and the Environment at a special luncheon the Ambassador hosted at his residence to welcome him last Thursday.
