IOM facilitates discussions towards Guyana finalising diaspora policy
DPI, GUYANA, Wednesday, September 13, 2017
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will conduct a series of consultations with the Guyanese diaspora in New York next week.
Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge said the consultations are being funded by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). At a press conference today, in the Ministry’s boardroom, he explained these additional consultations are to capture those who were initially missed.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge.
“Sometimes the area which had the most to say, had the most to say after they were invited to participate so they didn’t participate in significant number, in some places,” Minister Greenidge pointed out.
This round of consultations is part of a series of meetings in New York, USA and Toronto, Canada. “This will enable us to carry that process forward so we’ll be, if you like, involved in speaking and debating on a number of fronts as part of this single exercise,” Minister Greenidge noted.
The IOM had previously financed consultations in the diaspora, the results of which were used towards the initial draft diaspora policy. Since then, a ministerial sub-committee has been established to to finalise the Government’s Diaspora Engagement Strategy and Action Plan to develop a diaspora policy.
That committee comprises Foreign Affairs, Public Security, State, Finance, Business and Citizenship. “A good deal of the concentration of the discussion on the Guyana side has turned on, if you like, the division of labour between the various agencies, the focuses, the need for supplementary regulations, and the like to ensure that that policy can be effectively pursued,” Minister Greenidge noted.
By: Tiffny Rhodius