President David Granger would be among world leaders participating in the Arabic-Islamic- American Summit in Saudi Arabia that would address ways of countering and preventing terrorism and violent extremism around the globe.
At the post-cabinet press briefing yesterday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon announced that the President accepted an invitation from the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
President of the United States of America, Donald Trump is also expected to attend the summit which would be held on May 21 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Cenre in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Harmon said: “The summit will bring together leaders of the world’s Islamic Nations and invited Heads of State to address ways of building more robust and effective partnerships to counter and prevent the growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism around the globe through promoting tolerance and moderation.”
Accompanying the President are: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Audrey Waddell; First Secretary of the Guyana Permanent Mission to United Nations, Shiraz Mohamed and Moen ul Hack, Director of Education at the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana
The Saudi government would be facilitating the trip for the delegation with the provision of air and local transport, meals and hotel accommodation.
With regards to what issues would be raised on behalf of Guyana and Caricom with Saudi officials, the minister mentioned that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the loans and facilities available to Guyana will be part of the engagement.
Harmon, asked whether the Guyana Government was concerned by the slow pace of the delivering assistance promised by the IDB, said: “I would not say that we are concerned because there are processes which we knew had to be undertaken once we signed onto the bank and became a member so it is not as if we expected things to happen immediately and it didn’t happen.”
Guyana has become the 57th member and the 2nd CARICOM member of the IDB and would now be afforded an alternative source of financing to highly concessional resources including grants and interest-free loans.
The areas of intervention of the IDB include human development, rural development and food safety, infrastructural development, trade among member countries and private sector development, research and development in Islamic economies and banking and finance.
