Pres Ali meets with Hindustan Aeronautics ahead of contract-signing for new aircraft

President Dr Irfaan Ali recently met with a delegation from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), an Indian aerospace company founded in the 1940s. The meeting was a follow-up to the President’s visit to India earlier this year.
Back in February, it had been announced that Guyana was in talks with the Government of India to procure patrolling vessels and a Dornier aircraft to better protect Guyana’s maritime boundaries.
This contract, President Ali revealed about a week ago, should be signed by this year-end.

The idea of Guyana acquiring aircraft from India was first raised back in January 2023, when Ali visited the Asian nation, where he toured the Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company in Kanpur and inspected their CG-767 Indian Coast Guard 18-seater Dornier aircraft. The Guyanese leader was also given a presentation on the company’s capacity and capabilities.
According to reports coming out of that visit, President Ali indicated an interest in purchasing two of the India-manufactured Dornier 228 aircraft for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which has an aged fleet.
Dubbed Guyana’s first major defence deal with India, this development to procure defence assets from the Asian Government comes on the heels of the Irfaan Ali-led Administration taking significant steps to modernise the GDF with the acquisition of new equipment and supplies, as well as capacity-building.
India and Guyana have already established strong defence cooperation, with several GDF members undergoing various levels of training with the Indian military.
Meanwhile, HAL’s delegation included General Managers Mr Ajay Shrivastava and Mr Puneet Kumar; Captain (ret’d) Yogesh Jagannath, and Chief Test Pilot Jitendra Choudhary. The delegation was accompanied by India’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa, and First Secretary of the Indian High Commission in Guyana, Mr Mukesh Kaushik.
The Head of State was joined by the Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh; Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd; Public Works Minister Juan Edghill; Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Omar Khan; Director of Presidential Affairs, Marcia Nadir-Sharma; National Security Advisor Captain Gerry Gouveia, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CJIA, Ramesh Ghir.
Only recently, Government commissioned the refurbished twin-engine Beechcraft that was discovered back in 2017 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and has since been converted for Government use.
It was also announced that a GDF-run military and civil aviation school is in the works. Ali had revealed that this school will cater for both local and regional students, and will bring on board trained military instructors who served in both the GDF and other armies. (G-11)