Preparations are forging ahead for the visit of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in mid-November where he is expected to also meet with CARICOM leaders here.
A source close to the process last evening told Stabroek News that the Indian PM will be arriving in Guyana mid-November. From here, Modi will fly to Brazil for the G-20 Summit that country is hosting and for which Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has been asked by that country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to make a presentation on the environment.
This newspaper understands that Prime Minister Modi will also meet with CARICOM leaders who will be here for a forum not yet announced.
There has been no formal announcement yet by government but sources have said that the Indian PM’s visit is confirmed for Guyana and there are a number of plans for that visit currently being worked out.
On the meeting with CARICOM, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley had last week hinted at the meeting. “It is a troubling development that threatens the safety and harmony of our communities and that is why for the second time in recent years, the Heads of Government will go to Georgetown, Guyana. They were to do it in Barbados but from the time we knew that we have a Heads of Government Conference with a visiting Head of State from elsewhere, we would need to shift the conference to next month – November ,” she said.
In January of 2023, the then Indian High Commissioner here, Dr K. J. Srinivasa had said that his PM would visit but a date had not yet been finalised.
“…..The Prime Minister openly said ‘I will come to Guyana’…. There are mutually workable dates, mutually acceptable dates,” he had told Stabroek News during an interview.
Earlier this year, President Irfaan Ali had also led a Guyanese delegation including government officials and members of the private sector to India.
During that visit, discussions were held on a number of areas. India has also expressed its interest in the oil and gas sector here.
Vice President Jagdeo then visited India the following month and held talks on the areas of collaboration.
And while an agenda had not yet been drafted for Modi’s visit, the High Commissioner had said that he believed there is “a lot” of bilateral interest between the two countries.
“We are able to understand that the agenda is evolving. We are going to work on it. It’s going to be a hectic agenda again. We believe that there is lot of confluence on India’s role on mitigating climate change…. We are very willing to work with Guyana on its LCDS [Low Carbon Development Strategy] and other strategies,” he added.
