The new Venezuelan Ambassa-dor to Guyana, Her Excellency Reina Margarita Arratia Diaz has said that relations between the two countries are “unstoppable.”
This was reported by the Government Information Agency’s (GINA), which said the new ambassador presented her Letters of Credence to President Donald Ramotar on Wednesday at Office of the President (OP), while conveying President Hugo Chavez’s and the Bolivarian government’s commitment to continue strengthening ties for the benefit of the people of the two countries.
President Ramotar was quoted as saying that “Guyana and Venezuela are benefiting from a relationship which has gathered momentum over the recent years and which has resulted in regular political dialogue at the highest level.”
GINA said that after Chavez was re-elected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the country’s October 7 presidential elections, Ramotar had extended congratulations and his hope for continued friendship, cooperation and mutual respect which have characterised the relations between the two countries.
It further noted that in June 2005, Guyana along with Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Suriname, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed onto a PetroCaribe Agreement that facilitates access to fuel from Venezuela on a credit basis through a 25-year financing agreement and supplying goods to Venezuela. GINA added that the two countries subsequently signed off on rice exportation agreements that last year saw 30,000 tonnes of white rice at the cost of US$800 per metric tonne and 50,000 tonnes of paddy at the cost of US$480 per metric tonne going to Venezuela.
