– to meet with members of US Congress, State Department
President Dr Irfaan Ali and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken back in July
President Dr Irfaan Ali departed Guyana on Tuesday evening for Washington, DC, where he is expected to meet with a number of stakeholders from the US Congress and the State Department.
During his three-day State Visit, the Guyanese Head of State is also scheduled to participate in a number of private sector meetings and visit several universities, including the National Defence University.
He is also expected to make a presentation at the Organisation of American States (OAS).
The President is joined by the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd; Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister, Oneidge Walrond; Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Omar Khan.
This came on the heels of a recent visit to Guyana by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken. During his visit to Guyana back in July, Secretary Blinken held discussions with President Ali and Cabinet members.
He lauded Guyana for its leadership role not only in the Caribbean Region but internationally, especially with its UNSC membership. During his visit, Blinken had stated that the situation in Haiti was a topic that was discussed between the two sides during a high-level engagement.
“Haiti is certainly one area of, I think, potential and important collaboration with Guyana on the Security Council, precisely because it’s going to be very important to have the endorsement of the United Nations for any force that goes in to support the Police to create a more secure environment. So that’s one of the areas that we actually talked about today,” he noted.
But the US official noted that this would be an ongoing conversation between the two nations as his country is invested in learning from the Guyana Government, their thoughts and their agenda for its tenure on the Security Council.
On the other hand, President Ali reiterated Guyana’s commitment to global peace and security. He noted that there were many security challenges the world was currently facing such as the Haiti crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war, and so Guyana’s UNSC representatives will soon be meeting to iron out the country’s agenda.
“These are things that we will elaborate in much greater details. Very soon, our team that will be working at the Security Council will be meeting with our stakeholders in Washington and other stakeholders to further define and prioritise action, because there are so many challenges. But we have to prioritise the actions that are critical and the issues that are critical and must be addressed as we confront these challenges,” the Head of State had posited during a joint press conference.
