President Donald Ramotar has hailed 40 years of ties between Guyana and Mexico and said that there is much that the two countries can accomplish within the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations to improve the standard of living of their peoples.
GINA said these sentiments were expressed in his message to the President of the Republic of Mexico,
Enrique Pena Nieto in commemoration of the anniversary on March 1st, 2013.
GINA said he expressed gratitude to Mexico for the aid and areas of cooperation that Guyana has benefitted from over the last four decades.
“It is my hope that we can continue to work together to preserve and strengthen these bonds for the mutual benefit of our countries and peoples. I look forward to working with you in this regional mechanism to promote the interests and welfare of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole,” he said.
Relations were significantly strengthened with the establishment of a Mexican Embassy in Georgetown in 2009.
Since then, GINA noted that several agreements have been concluded including one for technical and scientific cooperation and another which caters for the abolition of visas for holders of diplomatic and service passports.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett in her message on the occasion pointed to the areas of technical and economic cooperation. In September 2011, Guyana and Mexico signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), for the setting up of a consultative mechanism that focused on all aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries.
A number of Guyanese students received scholarships under the Bicentennial Scholarships for Professional Technicians offered to Caricom by the Mexican Government.
GINA said these students benefitted from the full package that entailed waived enrollment fees, a monthly allowance of US $400, a four-month Spanish course prior to the start of studies, full medical insurance coverage from the Mexican Social Security Institute, and international air transportation at the beginning and end of the scholarship.
Mexican Ambassador to Guyana Francisco Olguin in his statement on the occasion said that when relations were first established “The world was a very different place then. A strategic and geopolitical rift, emphasized by an ideological confrontation, had divided developed nations on two opposing sides led by the Soviet Union and the United States, each one trying to impose their own values and ideas on the rest of the world.”
He noted that in the 1970s developing countries took up a more activist
stance in world affairs through a “third world movement” that began to lobby, at the United Nations, for a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
“Mexico and Guyana participated actively in this effort … and sought to maintain an independent position from the capitalist and communist blocs. New leaderships emerged and many initiatives were promoted to assure greater opportunities for developing nations, both at international and regional
levels, such as the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, the International Law of the Sea, the Latin American Economic System, and the creation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).”
The ambassador said that the returns from those efforts were often disappointing, but the principles and ideals that inspired them still survive. Noting the oil shock of the seventies, the debt crisis of the eighties, the fall of the bipolar world at the end of the eighties and the globalization process which transformed the world economy, the ambassador said that the two countries have “maintained their objectives of ensuring respect for their national sovereignty, the promotion of economic and social development as well as advancing regional integration.”
As a result of the level of development it has attained, the ambassador noted that Mexico is today considered an emerging economy and according to many projections could soon become one of the largest economies of the world.
“Although we still have to combat poverty and overcome other obstacles, Mexico has reached a level of development that demands a greater sense of
responsibility towards other countries, especially in our own continent”, he stated.
He added: “Mexico considers itself a Caribbean Country as our shores from the north of Belize to Cape Catoche are a geographical link that binds us together in this important and beautiful part of the world. Therefore, we look forward to a more intense relationship with Guyana and the countries of this region, joining forces in partnership to promote our ideals of integration, solidarity and development.”
He also made the point that the voting power of Guyana along with the rest of CARICOM makes it an important partner in the “struggle to effectively deal with the challenges of today’s international agenda”.
