“No formal decision” taken to hire retired US four-star General – VP Jagdeo

The Government has not taken any formal decision on whether it will hire retired United States Four-Star General Wesley Clark, who met with President Irfaan Ali this week.
This is according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday, adding that the meeting between Guyanese officials and Clark at State House was a fruitful one.
“We had a good meeting with General Clark. There has been no formal decision taken as to whether he’d be hired or not. But he is a solid person. He was Head of SouthCom, NATO, and a former US presidential candidate; a very knowledgeable person,” he outlined.
President Ali met with the retired Four-Star General in the company of Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Omar Khan.
According to the Office of the President, discussions focused on hemispheric security and geopolitical relations within the Western Hemisphere.
Meanwhile, the Vice President has indicated that the Government is continuing to pursue investments on the military front to bolster its defence capabilities. Some of the radar and interceptor devices, for example, would assist with monitoring and exercising sovereignty over the Exclusive Economic Zone and Guyana’s landmass.
“We would have to increase our investments in the military but our investments are purely defensive. We have planned this and we have already started implementing this…That process will continue.”
This week, supplementary funding was approved in the National Assembly towards expanding the work programmes in various Ministries, agencies and regions. Specifically, money was sought for $1.2 billion for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which is presently on high alert amid threats to Guyana’s territory of Essequibo from neighbouring, Venezuela.
Since the uprise in Venezuela’s aggression to annex the Essequibo region, Presidents Ali and Nicolas Maduro have agreed that both countries, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two States.
In a Joint Declaration following a meeting this month, the two Heads of State also agreed that any controversies between them would be resolved in accordance with international law, including the Geneva Agreement dated February 17, 1966.
The two countries have also committed to the pursuance of good neighbourliness, peaceful coexistence, and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.