Guyana will look at how it will tap into a US$1.5 billion grant announced by the Chinese Government during the visit of that country’s President Xi Jinping to Trinidad, while ways in which Beijing can assist George-town in infrastructure and transport were also discussed with President Donald Ramotar.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) reported yesterday that this was announced by Ramotar shortly after Caribbean Com-munity (CARICOM) Heads met with the Chinese Head of State at the Hilton Hotel in Port-of-Spain, for a luncheon.
“The Chinese Government has committed to give the region much more assistance, US$1.5B to help with some infrastructural work and US$1.5B in concessionary loans for the region, so I think China has demonstrated once again, its friendship to our region, and to help us to try to improve the quality of life for the peoples of our countries,” GINA quoted Ramotar as saying.
Guyana will be benefitting from this, and according to Ramotar, efforts will be made shortly to identify how Guyana will tap into this facility, GINA said. “That has just been announced, so we will have to work out what are the critical areas we will want to work on,” said Ramotar.
GINA said that two years ago, the Chinese Government had pledged US$1B in preferential loans to support the local economic development of the Caribbean region when China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan met CARICOM leaders in Trinidad and Tobago at a Business Conference of the third China-Caribbean Econo-mic and Trade Cooperation Forum. Priority areas had been in the fields of finance and investment, capacity building, environmental protection, new energy, culture, education, health, trade, tourism as well as agriculture and fishery. Wang had said the Chinese Government had intended to deepen China-Caribbean cooperation.
During that forum Guyana and China inked a 30 million RMB grant agreement on September 12 that would see funding for a number of priority projects in Guyana, GINA said.
Yesterday, Ramotar and a delegation met with the Chinese president and the 40-year old diplomatic ties between the two countries were highlighted. GINA reported that speaking through an interpreter; the Chinese leader recognised the importance of diplomatic relations with Guyana, pointing to the four decades of bilateral ties with Guyana. He also recalled that Guyana was the first English-speaking Caribbean country to establish diplomatic relations with China, and a strong supporter of the “One China Policy”.
Ramotar in an invited comment after the meeting said the talks were general, and both sides were satisfied with the relations and have committed to further strengthen those ties, GINA reported.
“We were very satisfied with the level of our cooperation, but we both agreed that we will want to improve on what we have, to make them even stronger in our relationship going forward. We also spoke about the possibilities of Chinese assistance in helping us with other important infrastructure, but as you will appreciate in the short space of time (of the meeting), no details could
be worked out, but in principle, I think we agree that we need to work to build on these relationships, and that we will be ready to work together … and to also encourage Chinese companies to invest into other sectors in Guyana, that we are ready to have more Chinese companies investing in our country,” Ramotar was quoted as saying.
According to Ramotar, discussions were also held on how the two sides can work together in other areas to strengthen their ties. GINA reported that the President did not divulge the details of these discussions, but only stated that there were some discussions on how the Chinese government could assist Guyana in infrastructure, and the transport sector.
Guyana and China have enjoyed frequent high-level exchanges at the political, diplomatic, economic and cultural levels, GINA said. It noted that the relations have benefitted Guyana socially and economically with a number of key projects, like the One Laptop Per Family, (OLPF) Amaila Falls Hydro project, the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and the construction of the Marriott Hotel. Several of these projects have been rife with controversy on several grounds.
Ramotar was accompanied by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
