Guyana to attend CELAC summit

GINA, GUYANA, Friday, January 20, 2017

President David Granger will be attending the Fifth Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to  be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from January 21 – 25, 2017.

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, said that the Guyana delegation will also comprise Second Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, Ambassador Audrey Jardine-Waddell and other Foreign Service officers.

On the agenda is the adoption of a political declaration, a CELAC action plan for 2017-2018, special pre-negotiated declarations and a gender strategy.

Trotman explained that economic, political, social and cultural integration of the 33 countries will be dealt with.

Guyana by virtue of its current chairmanship of CARICOM will sit on the CELAC quartet as a CARICOM representative. The quartet is the highest coordinating forum of CELAC and comprises of the outgoing chairman, current chairman, the incoming chairman and the chairman of CARICOM.

The summit is an inter-governmental mechanism for dialogue and political agreement

CELAC was established at a summit in Venezuela on December 2011,  when 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean gathered to discuss and share knowledge on various issues.

CELAC’s founding declaration backs “political, economic, social, and cultural integration” as its method “to advance social welfare, the quality of life, economic growth, and to promote independent and sustainable development.”

 

By: Zanneel Williams