President to attend Arab Islamic American Summit -PM, Centennial commemoration of abolishment of Indian Indentureship
GINA, GUYANA, Thursday, May 18, 2017
President David Granger is set to attend the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2017. This was disclosed by Minister of State Joseph Harmon at the post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency, today.
Minister Harmon announced that President Granger has accepted the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia, His Highness, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to participate in the Arab Islamic American Summit, which brings together leaders of the world’s Islamic nations and invited Heads of State. President of the United States, Donald Trump is expected to attend.
The summit’s main agenda is to address ways of building more robust and effective security partnership to counter and prevent the growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism around the globe through promoting tolerance and moderation, Minister Harmon said.
President Granger will be seeking to raise issues relating to the Islamic Development Bank and the loan and facilities that are available to Guyana at the summit, Minister Harmon said.
President Granger’s delegation to the summit will include Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Audrey Waddell, First Secretary of the Guyana Permanent Mission United Nation Shiraz Mohamed and the Director of Dawah and Education, Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana,(CIOG,) Sheik Moeenul Hack.
Minister Harmon explained that to facilitate the President and his delegation’s attendance to the summit, the government of Saudi Arabia will be providing air transport to and from the conference, hotel accommodation, meals and internal transport within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
100th anniversary of abolishment of Indian Indentureship
Whilst the President is in Saudi Arabia, the First-Vice President and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo will be in Basseterre, Guadeloupe from May 19 to 22 for the centennial commemoration of the abolishment of Indian Indentureship. The PM would be accompanied by his wife, Sita Nagamootoo.
The festival will be hosted by the Guadeloupe chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin, with the objective of sharing with the Caribbean the multicultural heritage of Guadeloupe and the French West Indies.
Minister Harmon explained that the PM and his wife have been invited as honoured guests to promote friendly relations between Guadeloupe and Guyana.
He said that during the temporary absence from the country of the President and the PM, Vice-President and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan will be performing the functions of the President.
The President and the Prime Minister are not the only members of Cabinet who will be overseas this month, participating in talks and seminars. Minister Harmon explained that the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams, SC will be at the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) Steering Group meeting in Trinidad and Tobago from May 28th to June 01. Minister Williams, who is the Deputy Chairman of CFATF, will co-host the meeting.
Minister Harmon explained that the meeting will address important matters leading up to the final plenary session which will be hosted by Guyana in November 2017, at which the Attorney General will assume Chairmanship of the taskforce.
Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence will also be participating in a Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting (CHMM) and the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland from May 21 to 22.
The CHMM will address global security challenges in an effort to reduce all forms of violence including family violence. The 70th World Health Assembly would discuss the use of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development as a stimulus to build better system for sustainable development and opportunity to build better systems for health and wellbeing through links to other systems such as agriculture, education and the environment, Minister Harmon said.
He said that Minister Lawrence will be accompanied by Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud at the meetings.
Meanwhile, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock will attend a seminar on Indigenous peoples’ issues in the Amazon and surrounding regions to be held at the Stanford University in California, USA.
The seminar which will be held from May 22 to 26 aims at enlightening the university and the California community about indigenous peoples’ issues in the Amazon and surrounding regions, Minister Harmon explained. He said that in attendance would be Indigenous Leaders from other Amazonian countries and it is expected that the seminar would create a network for continued shared experiences.
By: Macalia Santos