US playing integral role in Guyana’s security architecture

With President Dr Irfaan Ali currently leading a government delegation in the United States to further strength ties in a number of areas, collaboration and cooperation in security sector has been placed high on the agenda.
This is according to the Head of State, who on Wednesday participated in a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Americas Program on strengthen US-Guyana relations.
According to President Ali, a big part of his visit is dedicated to security enhancement and the US’s role in advancing Guyana’s security plans.
“The US is playing a greater, more integral role in our security architecture. We’re building partnership. We have an information sharing platform. We have greater collaboration and cooperation. We have integration in what we’re doing,” he stated.

The President noted the reality is that Guyana is facing certain security issues and challenges. To this end, he stressed that Guyana is working with the US on confronting that reality and deal with the multi-dimensional nature of the security challenge.
The focus is on building the architecture, building and supporting the infrastructure, training and development, information and technology sharing, working on a common platform, support through technology. The Guyanese Leader noted that these are all part of a new comprehensive security plan that the two countries are working together on.
“That has been an important part of the agenda and discussions we’ve had up here… We’re not only deepening our relationship but for us it is an imperative that the US plays an important part in our security architecture. Our geographic location brings with it, its own challenges and when talk about building out an infrastructure that would have deeper, faster and a more integrated connection with more countries, you attract new challenges too,” he stated.
Already, Guyana and the US have several security cooperation programmes including training of local army officers.

Climate Change
In addition to security, other major area of cooperation between the two countries are food security, climate change and sustainable development, among others.
President Ali told the CSIS forum that Guyana has the potential to become a world leader in key sectors such as the environment, agriculture and technology.
“Our commitment to climate change and development, sustainable development, is unshakable,” he contended.
He went onto highlight that over 80 per cent of Guyana is covered by prestine forests that is larger than the size of England. This large forest cover, the Guyanese Leader explained, currently stores more than 19 gigatonnes of carbon and is attached to a value of more than US$500 billion.
“So, I present to you a country that is enormously rich in biodiversity, ecological services, environmental services,” he noted.
According to President Ali, climate change cannot be dealt with in a “transactional way” but must be dealt with through global policy formation that is supported by all.
“There needs to be a balanced conversation, a conversation that understands the reality of the world. Because guess what, when supply becomes low, and demand continues to increase, prices are affected, and the most affected continues to be the developing world. So this conversation cannot take place without the balance,” he posited.
This balance, the President further outlined, is highlighted by Guyana as an oil-producing nation.
“And I want to present Guyana as a perfect example of a country and a policymaking environment that is seeking to achieve that balance in our development trajectory and our commitment to climate change. We are a net zero country, we have among the lowest deforestation rate in the world at 0.05 per cent. We have a forest that goes through all the rigid global audits, and we are not going to change that,” he noted.

Moreover, President Ali pointed out that Guyana’s development is structured in a Low Carbon Development Strategy that looks at the enhancement and prosperity of livelihood, the development of the infrastructure and human resources and the transformation of the country as an important part of the Environmental Modelling.
“As we move forward with our oil and gas sector, we are simultaneously moving forward and advancing our forests as a tool to combat climate change. And we are now moving to a Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 that expands itself beyond the forests to the ocean and the blue economy.”

Food security
The Guyanese Leader went onto note that Guyana has the potential to become a leader in food security and agriculture technology.
“Guyana has rich freshwater resources. We have abundant freshwater, and large-scale arable lands, we are well positioned to be the food basket of CARICOM. For a matter of fact, in the early days of the development of CARICOM, Guyana was referred to as the food basket of CARICOM (Caribbean Community),” he stated.
In fact, he underscored that the regional bloc, led by Guyana, is working aggressively on a plan to reduce its food import bill by 25% by 2025.
“We have the potential to become a leader also in climate change, food security, transport and logistics,” he explained, adding that Guyana’s geographic position of being in South America allows economic access to Brazil and other countries on the continent.
Additionally, the Head of State spoke of the country’s plans to revolutionise its health and education sectors and not only make them world-class but global hubs. (G8)