President Granger meets with Mauritius Prime Minister -on sidelines of UNGA in New York

Georgetown, Guyana – (September 20, 2017) President David Granger yesterday met with the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Mr.Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York whom he said he will be working closer with in the future, particularly within the framework of the Commonwealth.

In an update to the Guyanese and Mauritius media corps after the meeting, the Head of State explained that both Guyana and Mauritius are currently faced with claims on their respective territories and said that he and Prime Minister Jugnauth reaffirmed their unreserved support for each other.

“With regard to the territorial issue between Mauritius and the UK [United Kingdom], Guyana has already made forthright statements. We support Mauritius and I also took the opportunity to raise the territorial claims on Guyana’s territory by Venezuela. Mauritius as part of the Commonwealth has always given us support so there is mutual support in terms of the territorial claims against these two countries,” President Granger said.

The two leaders also spoke of their commitment to environmental protection. President Granger said that this would be a hot button issue next year when they meet again at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. “We feel that the Commonwealth would be a good forum to keep the issue of climate change and global warming alive. We are going to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and I am sure we are going to raise it there.”

Prior to the meeting with Prime Minister Jugnauth, the Head of State also met with Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Ms. Grete Faremo and a UN delegation which included Assistant Secretary General, and UNOPS Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Vitaly Vanshelboim and two Advisers Mr. Morten Wetland and Mr. Drajan Micic.