Guyana is a “strong partner” to the US – Secretary of State to Pres Ali

Urgent solutions to climate change and energy took centre stage on Monday, when President Ali met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, DC.
In his remarks, the US Secretary of State said that Guyana has been a very strong partner for the United States and is in many ways a global leader. The two countries, he added, will continue to advance discussions and collaboration in areas for cooperation.

“Guyana has been a very strong partner for the United States and in many ways, a global leader. We’re working together in our region and beyond to try to find solutions to urgent challenges, to include climate, food security, energy security. We’re working on each of these together and I think coming out of the Summit of the Americas, there is a lot more energy in those efforts,” he underscored.
In the weeks ahead, Blinken hinted that several initiatives between the two countries will materialise. Particularly, climate change and energy have been important topics during this current visit to deepen bilateral engagements.

The United States, he emphasised, is “very eager to continue to deepen and strengthen the partnership,” which will also redound to the benefit of the region given the fact that Georgetown, the country’s capital, is also the seat of Caricom.
Meanwhile, President Ali has committed to working jointly in areas of mutual collaboration for not just Guyana, but the Caribbean Community.
“We look forward to discussing how jointly we can continue to work on the issues of food security, climate, financing, working in the region in terms of debt crisis facing Caricom, but more importantly, finding a balanced development strategy, and in doing so, staying true to the value system, principles that both of us believe so strongly in—that is a democratic society where transparency, accountability, and strong governance support for the development of Guyana.”
The President noted that the discussions this week are a continuation of the dialogue between the two countries, which was initiated during June’s Ninth Summit of the Americas, in which critical issues for Caricom as a region were identified, which include food security, energy security, financing, and the issue of climate change.
He reminded that Guyana is already providing leadership, including on issues of the environment, while pursuing the country’s development agenda.
“We are pursuing an energy path that seeks to balance our newfound natural resource of oil and gas, but we are not doing that at the detriment of our credentials on environment and climate change. As you rightfully pointed out, our forests store 19.5 kilotons of carbon. We are a net zero country.” (G12)