Guyana, Suriname to engage Northern Brazil on joint tourism talks

The Presidents of Guyana and Suriname, His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and His Excellency, Chandrikapersad Santokhi intend to engage Northern Brazil on how they can jointly boost their tourism industries.

This was disclosed by President Ali on Thursday during a joint press conference with the Suriname Head-of-State, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

“Tourism has been identified as a key area for both countries. So, we have also agreed that the two Ministers and entities will meet to determine a strategy that would jointly promote Guyana and Suriname, especially in the context of the Guiana Shield and the potential of including Northern Brazil in that package.”

The Guiana Shield is world renowned for being a region of rich biodiversity. It underlies Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and portions of Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia.

A joint communique released after the press conference stated that Guyana and Suriname would promote the two countries as a “twin tourism product”.

In this regard, they see the construction of the Corentyne Bridge as infrastructure that will grow the tourism sector, as it will make the inter-country movement of people, goods and services more seamless.

President Ali related that the two Presidents agree on the need for cooperative approaches, and an “early discussion” on this initiative.

“We share a collective vision for collaborative strategies, not only to bring our two countries closer, but strategies which will redound to the individual benefits of both countries and peoples.”

President Santokhi and his delegation is set to depart Guyana today.