Dear Editor,
Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar is among three heads of government who are absent from the Seventh Conference of the Americas now underway in Panama. The country is however being represented by Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Ambassador Bayney Karran.
President Ramotar was however in Jamaica for the meeting between heads of Caribbean governments and US President Barack Obama. The heads of government of the Commonwealth of Dominica and Chile are also absent, but the two countries are nevertheless represented.
The summit under the theme ‘Prosperity with Equity: The Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas’ is being held at the sprawling ATLAPA Conference Centre under extremely tight security.
President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez said that the summit is the starting point for a new process of hemispheric consolidation, in which the countries share experience and good practices so that all the states’ agendas become synonymous with progress.
Several presentations were made at Friday’s session on Financial Integration
and Inclusion; Mobilizing Resources for Social and Economic Development; Economic Enpowermen for Women; Corporate Social Innovation; Energy; Supplying the Growth of the Americas; Infrastructure, Logistics and Connectivity.
US President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Head of Government Raul Castro are scheduled to address the delegates and observers today. US Secretary of State John Kerry had informal talks with the Cuban leader on Thursday, no doubt concerning the move for a better relationship between the two countries.
Panama City is extremely busy and almost half the city is virtually closed for security reasons.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
