Guyana’s relationship with China is one built on Beijing’s support for this country’s development goals and where common values are realised, President Irfaan Ali has declared, while observing that the United States is now moving to bridge the years of investment neglect in its relationship with this country and the Caribbean region as a whole.
“Our relationship is based on the country’s ability to move its development path forward. It is based on ensuring respect for fundamental principles, ensuring that we support common values. China has been in the region, CARICOM, Latin America, for a very long time,” Ali makes these remarks as a guest speaker at a forum in Washington, organised by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization. The topic at the forum was “Strengthening the Guyana-US Relationship” and Ali was asked, among other questions, “How does Guyana think about its relationship with mainland China?”
“They have supported the development path of many countries have supported the development part of Guyana. They’ve invested in different projects over the years as the United States and we’ll be encouraging the US to become more aggressive and to take more strategic space, a place in this space and the region,” he added.
The president pointed out that his country’s relationship with China could not be aptly assessed in abstract terms without looking at the relationship that that country has had with the region and how that came to be, which is also important.
Regarding US-Caribbean relations, he proffered that there has been the collective view of the region that Washington’s investments there has not been as aggressive. From a country to country perspective, each leader he said, has their own justifications for their views.
And it is why those points were expressed at the recent Summit of the Americas, Ali added.
“One of the important discussions at the Summit of the Americas was a priority that the region occupies in the foreign policy and mindset of the US. And there is a great view in the region, and this was before the Summit of the Americas, that there has been some amount of neglect for the CARICOM region by the US. That [point] was officially raised. After the Summit of the Americas, I can say there has been an enormous move to rectify this.”
“We [CARICOM leaders] had a meeting with the President and Vice President [of the U.S] and in that meeting, three sub-committees were established to focus specifically on the priorities of the region. It is co-chaired by the US and Caricom and the results are already becoming; they’re coming to the fore. Timelines were set,” he explained.
The recent $2 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in financing with the United States government was pointed to, as the president opined that the US is moving to rekindle its attention in the region.
“I mean, look at this this week here; we have been able to accomplish very strategic things. Some things that are historic. Today we signed a MoU with the EXIM Bank. And if you look, sometimes we look at things narrowly. If you look at financing from the EU, and financing from the US, you actually can compete and outcompete, but the information is not there. The access and spending time presenting the opportunity is what is required. That is a platform that is unfolding.”
According to the President, he was confident that henceforth the deepening of relations with Washington and the region could only get better.
“I think that the US acknowledges, and they have done this, they’ve done this where the leaders acknowledge that there was some resetting that was required, and I’m very confident sitting here, that that process of reset has started,” he contended.
Further, Ali expressed, “The level of seriousness and priority that the region has given has been reignited and we are hoping that this can continue in an aggressive manner.”
U.S Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch was singled out as Ali noted, “And that is why people like Ambassador Sarah are so important in the process, because they are the ones who have to drive this process, and we’re seeing that.”
CSIS Vice President and holder of the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis, Daniel Runde, who facilitated the discussion, noted that a report was done about 18 months ago, “about some rethinking our approach to the Caribbean.” He too rained praises on Ambassador Lynch.
Runde who according to his profile is a senior executive, strategist, and expert in international development, international trade, investment, global business and organizational change, and who builds dynamic partnership alliances among governments, multi-lateral institutions, corporations, and philanthropies, said that with so much to grapple with globally, the US is sometimes guilty of Attention Deficit Disorder ‘ADD’.
“I think your voice and your perspective is really welcomed right now. I’m really proud as an American that we’ve sent one of our best ambassadors, in Ambassador Lynch, and we’re very really pleased that that we sent her and she’s so well regarded here in Washington. It’s a symbol of the seriousness of our intent to have a stronger relationship with Guyana.”
