Two French senators who visited in January this year have called on Paris to establish an embassy here on account of Guyana’s growing economic importance and common security interests in the face of threats from Venezuela.
Writing in the February 17th edition of French weekly newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, François Bonneau, senator from Charente, and Philippe Folliot, senator from Tarn also argued for an embassy on the grounds that Guyanese have to travel to the Dutch embassy in Suriname for a Schengen visa and this limits opportunities for the growth in business ties.
In their capacity as parliamentarians on the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, they travelled to Mabaruma, the capital of Region One then journeyed three kilometres from the border with Venezuela to the villages of Yaraquita and White Water. They noted that they were the first foreign MPs to have visited the area following Venezuela’s December 3rd 2023 referendum seeking to annexe Guyana’s county of Essequibo.