Vice President-led delegation arrives in Suriname

As part of ongoing efforts to fortify bilateral ties, a delegation led by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo arrived in Suriname on Monday. This is part of a three-day working visit.  

Dr. Jagdeo immediately engaged in a meeting with His Excellency Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of the Republic of Suriname; His Excellency, Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation; and His Excellency, Silvano Tjoong-Ahin, Minister of Spatial Planning and Environment at the Presidential Palace in Suriname.

Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, MP, and Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname Keith George also attended the meeting.

Last month, a high-level Surinamese delegation led by President Santokhi visited Guyana. During the visit, His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali recognised that Guyana and Suriname share similar conditions, opportunities and challenges relating to the environment and climate change.

In lieu of this, Guyana’s Head of State said the Vice President would engage with counterparts in Suriname to identify a common strategy to tackle climate change. Discussions on the preservation and sustainability of the environment are also on the agenda.

Further, Dr. Ali had pointed out that Suriname and Guyana would be jointly marketing their forests, as carbon credit. A carbon credit is a tradable permit or certificate that allows the holder of the credit the right to emit a ton of carbon dioxide or an equivalent of another greenhouse gas.

“We have agreed that we’re going to jointly approach the area of environment and climate change, to come up with a common strategy for both Guyana and Suriname especially in preparation for COP26 and also in exploring the possibility of merging our forest asset in the carbon credit market,” President Ali had explained.

The 26th United Nation’s Conference on Climate Change (COP26) is being hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy. It will be held from October 31 to November 12 in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, UK.