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The Guyana Update -- May, 1997. |
Denmark and the United Kingdom have written off three-fourths of Guyana's debts to those countries following similar debt cancellations by France and The Netherlands.
As a consequence of separate agreements reached in April with Denmark and the UK, Guyana will no longer have to pay Copenhagen US$3.8 million of the US$4.2 million it once owed that North European Government, nor US$126 million of the US$197.2 million due to London. In addition, Guyana has been given 23 years to repay its outstanding
sums to the two countries. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has written off US$10.7 million or 67% of the debt Guyana owed it. A cancellation agreement reached in Amsterdam between Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo and his Dutch counterpart includes a rescheduling of the remaining US$5 million owed to The Hague over 23 years. The entire sum was borrowed by the former PNC regime, adding to a foreign debt of US$2.1 billion that the incoming PPP/CIVIC administration has been pleading with bilateral creditors since 1993 to help it reduce.
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As we celebrate the thirty-first year of Guyana's attainment of independence, we do not only reflect on Guyana's achievements and disappointments during the period, but we also have to look ahead down the road that we have to follow in our drive for economic and social progress. All Guyanese must be involved in formulating ideas on what road we must traverse and the pace at which we must move along on it.
Guyana's achievements over the past five years have been noteworthy for the positive trends that they have taken. The international financial institutions have for successive years praised our economic growth and the determined efforts of the Government in instituting social and economic programs which bring benefits for our people. We have seen the continued strengthening of democracy with the involvement of people at all levels in decision making, and a meaningful effort to reach consensus at the highest level of the legislative process is exemplified by the constructive work of the various Parliamentary committees that have been established.
And while strenuous efforts are being put in the area of economic recovery, the social aspect of the development process is heavily emphasized. This is illustrated by the massive renovation and building of schools, health centers, roads and water systems all over the country. And while these activities have been progressing, Guyana continues to win debt relief from a number of its bilateral donors. Over the past four years, too, electricity production has doubled, even though the tremendous demands of the quickly growing productive sector continue to put pressure on the system. Hopefully, with the expected involvement of private enterprise in electricity production in the coming year, we will see a final end to the energy problem in Guyana.
During this year Guyana lost the father of the independence struggle, President Cheddi Jagan. His achievements and his ideas are firmly embedded in the national psyche, and the examples he set on integrity, transparency and accountability in public life and his struggle for national unity, will no doubt influence the lives of generations to come.
Within the next few months the Guyanese people will participate in another free election to choose a Government that will lead them into the twenty-first century. In the test of democracy, while the first free election builds hope and unleashes the ideas and talents of the people, it is the second free election that will determine the success of the process. Guyanese are urged to make full use of this human right which they won back in October 1992.
Happy Independence Day to all Guyanese!
Guyana Medical Relief (GMR) of Los Angeles, California, continues to mobilize resources for Guyana's health sector. Early last month equipment and supplies sent by the organization arrived in Georgetown for six hospitals. The value of the shipment amounts US$205,653. The six hospitals that will benefit are Georgetown ($60,476), New Amsterdam ($66,993), Port Mourant ($22,124), Bartica ($14,559), St. Joseph Mercy ($27,153) and Davis Memorial ($14,229). Georgetown, New Amsterdam and St. Joseph Mercy received state-of-the-art patient monitors. GMR received the equipment and supplies from Direct Relief International of California with which it has been cooperating for a number of years.
The National Assembly has endorsed a motion by Government for the initiating of public hearings on constitutional reform as part of the process of reshaping the system of fundamental principles according to which democratic Guyana should be governed. As a result, these hearings will commence on May 7 across the country.
The current constitution was drafted and decreed by the former PNC regime in 1980 allegedly without any input from the Guyanese people. It provided for five Vice Presidents, placed the Executive President above public scrutiny, and gave the Government a paternal hold on the political, economic, and social life of the country.
The PPP/CIVIC administration has committed itself to rewriting or replacing the 1980 constitution with one based on public consensus, and initiated the establishment of an inter-party Constitutional Review Committee in May of 1996 to submit appropriate recommendations on reforming the document to the National Assembly.
Government has begun a series of consultations with Essequibians to seek public consensus for its proposal to establish several "secondary" towns on the Essequibo Coast. At least three Amerindian communities have been included for elevation to townships in the Secondary Towns Infrastructure Development Project. The project, which entails the construction of inter-urban and connector roads, markets, ferry stellings, solid waste disposal structures and other facilities and services commensurate with township status, is to be financed by a World Bank-administered Japanese Grant Facility Program.
Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Berjaya, a Malaysian conglomerate, for Berjaya to lease and explore 750,000 acres of forest land in northern Guyana. The deal, signed by the two parties on April l 7, allows Berjaya to conduct a number of studies on the feasibility of forest harvesting in Guyana. Berjaya has already established joint venture relationships with two Guyanese companies and is keen on investing US$150 million (G$1.5 billion) in Guyana's forestry industry, employing as many as 6,000 Guyanese to run its operations.
GUYEXPO '97 will now take place from July 24 to 27 instead of May 8 to 11. The change of schedule was requested by the Guyana Manufacturers' Association (GMA) to allow potential exhibitors to better equip themselves for the bi-annual exposition. GUYEXPO, or Guyana Exposition, to which scores of Caribbean, Latin American, North American, European and Asian business representatives are invited, was introduced by the PPP/CIVIC administration in 1994 to showcase locally-produced commodities, secure foreign markets for Guyanese products and attract foreign investments in the Guyanese economy.
Guyana is likely to reopen its embassy in New Delhi. Foreign Minister Clement Rohee discussed the matter with his Indian counterpart, Inder Kumar Gujral, when the Guyanese Minister traveled to New Delhi to attend the 12th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. As a result of that meeting, India has also agreed to send a team of health and agricultural specialists to work in Guyana, speed up the shipment of water pumps for Guyana's rural water supply program, continue providing scholarships for Guyanese graduates, and consider financing the bridging of the Berbice River. Mr Gujral has also accepted an invitation to visit Guyana.
The Georgetown City Council is considering a proposal by National Parking Systems Inc. for the company's operation of a paid parking system in the Guyanese capital. Supporters of the proposal say the system, similar to that operating in the United States, will enhance Georgetown's modernization process, promote orderly road usage and increase City Hall's revenue-earning capability. National Parking Systems Inc. proposes to inaugurate the program in 20 of the city's major streets, assume responsibility for the sale of tokens, park cards and parking decals, maintain all parking equipment, and hire and train staff to operate the system. It says City Hall could earn a minimum of $14 million each year from the operation of the system.
Mac's Educational Establishment will add secondary school tutoring to its curriculum in September, three years after pioneering the reintroduction of formal private schooling in Guyana. Mac's secondary school will teach 19 subjects, including computer science, economics, technical drawing, accounting and business principles -- "career" subjects designed to explore the natural interests of students in particular professions.
Mac's Educational Establishment opened a nursery school in 1994 and a primary unit in 1995, becoming the first company to accept a challenge by the PPP/CIVIC administration for entrepreneurs to invest more in reshaping the country's formal curriculum in order to help assure high levels of intellectual achievement by Guyanese students. Private involvement in formal education was discontinued in 1976, when the then Government decided to assume total control of the country's education system from nursery to university.
A60-room dormitory is under construction at the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana to provide additional accommodation for the university's growing resident population. The dormitory will be named the Edward B. Beharry Hall of Residence after business tycoon and family patriarch Edward B. Beharry, who died on January 31, 1994. It is being built at a cost of $160 million.
Chin's Manufacturing Company Limited is installing a $360 million processing plant to begin the packaging of pasteurized milk and fruit drink in September. The company plans to produce 100,000 quarter-liter packets of orange, passion fruit, apple and pineapple drink, and a similar amount of evaporated, full-cream, chocolate, and strawberry milk per day, and will launch the sale of these commodities simultaneously in Guyana and in Trinidad and Tobago. One of Guyana's most successful companies, Chin's Manufacturing Company Limited will employ an additional 25 persons to operate the state-of-the-art plant.
A 14-member Chinese team held discussions in mid-April with Sanata Textiles Limited on the possibility of establishing a joint venture with the state-run company. The team was headed by Luo Li Sheng, vice president of China's Textile Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation.
Sanata Textiles Limited was created in the 1970s to process cloth from cotton produced by the Guyana National Service (GNS). But dwindling output and finally non-cultivation led to the management of Sanata importing raw materials to keep the plant in operation. Recently, it has had to lay off some of its workers just to stay in business. The Chinese and Guyanese negotiators signed a Letter of Intent at the conclusion of their talks.
Habitat for Humanity Guyana Limited, a nonprofit organization established in November of l 994 at the initiative of late President Cheddi Jagan and the US-based Habitat for Humanity International, a Christian housing ministry, in April handed over the keys to six newly-constructed houses to low-income Guyanese in Eccles, suburban Georgetown.
Each of the 480-square foot, two-bedroom houses cost $500,000 (US$3,500), the payment of which by the occupants, at the non-interest rate of $2,800 a month, is to be placed into a revolving fund that will allow other needy, working-class Guyanese to acquire their own homes at an affordable price. Habitat for Humanity Guyana Limited is also building similar houses in several rural communities.
A housing scheme at Hope, East Coast Demerara, has been named the Cheddi Jagan Housing Complex in honor of late President Cheddi Jagan. The name was unanimously agreed on by more than 200 residents at a function convened in mid-April to pay tribute to Dr Jagan's memory and to hear of Government's plans for the scheme's development.
At Dr Jagan's initiative his PPP/CIVIC administration gave out house lots, land titles and freehold leases to the residents of Hope and established a partnership which he hoped would turn their frustrations and sense of hopelessness into industrious efforts to promote the development of the area.
Government is finalizing the draft of a bill that proposes giving entrepreneurs the legal authority to buy and export gold. A law to this effect will end Government's virtual monopoly in both the purchase and foreign sale of gold, and facilitate the pre-eminence of private enterprise as the engine of economic growth. Government has already granted licenses to eight dealers who had applied to merchandise in gold following Cabinet's decision to liberalize transactions in the gold industry. Until March, Omai Gold Mines Limited, Guyana's largest gold-mining company, was the only non-government firm licensed to export gold.
The construction of a number of primary and nursery schools is currently being carried out by the Region Two administration.. New nursery schools are being constructed at Maria's Lodge and Anna Regina along with Lima/Sands Primary and the annexe of the Siriki Primary school, Upper Pomeroon River. In addition, the region is undertaking the rehabilitation of a number of Government buildings, including the regions accounts office, the public health office, the nurses' hostel at Suddie, the education office and the Charity Hospital Complex.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Housing Ministers met for a four-day meeting at the Pegasus Hotel to review a regional plan of action on human settlements and to reinforce their Governments' goal of creating opportunities for low-income earners to own their own homes. Representatives of institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank , the United States Agency for International Development, the Caribbean Development Bank, Britain's Overseas Development Administration, the United Nations Environment Program, and the Organization of American States attended part of the meeting,
Guyana's input included calls for twinning arrangements with regional housing agencies and for donor agency assistance to speed up squatter regularization, urban policy renewal and geological information gathering. A paper Guyana presented at the forum proposes giving tax rebates to commercial banks which reduce mortgage interest rates to low-income borrowers below prevailing market rates.
Public discussion has begun on the National Development Strategy, consolidating the process of consultative democracy begun by the PPP/CIVIC administration when it assumed office in October 1992. Public forums on the six-volume document, drafted in an unusually participatory effort involving experts in both the private and public sectors, are taking place simultaneously in urban, suburban and regional communities to enlighten Guyanese on Government's plans for them and their country into the 21st century.
The National Development Strategy unveils Government's goal of accelerating the growth of workers' incomes and their living conditions, the revival of moral standards in every facet of the Guyanese society, the continued rehabilitation and expansion of the country's rundown infrastructure, the development of its socioeconomic sectors, the growth of foreign and local private investments, and the promotion of a rich cultural heritage transcending ethnic barriers.
Guyana has called on hemispheric countries and the multilateral financial institutions to support a ceiling on annual debt repayments. This call was made by Guyana's Ambassador to the United States and the OAS, Odeen Ishmael, during the second meeting of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) in Mexico City during April 16-18. Ishmael said that countries of the hemisphere were facing poverty because of a number of factors including the heavy debt burdens that they bear. To release resources for development, he said a ceiling of 10 percent of foreign earnings of the heavily indebted countries should be placed on debt repayments, since currently some countries, such as Guyana, were paying out a large proportion of their foreign earnings to service debts. The Guyanese Ambassador spoke during discussions by the representatives of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank who made presentations on how poverty in the hemisphere could be alleviated.
Colombia has agreed to buy up to 50,000 tonnes of paddy from Guyana during 1997. During April a cargo of 10,000 tonnes was shipped to the South American country with the remainder leaving in monthly consignments. The Guyana Rice Development Board, faced with import restrictions by the European Union and by a production glut after the country's rice industry began recovering in 1993, has been seeking new markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa. Trinidad and Tobago has ordered 10,000 tonnes of rice, Haiti will be importing 50,000 tonnes, and at least one country in Africa is buying 5000 tonnes this year.
British High Commissioner to Guyana, Mr David Johnson, recently commended "the spirit of constructive compromise" that the PPP/Civic administration is displaying in ensuring transparency and fairness in Guyana's upcoming general elections.
At a reception in Georgetown, Mr Johnson said the country's Elections Commission was approaching its job with "diligence and professionalism" to make sure the polls were well run. He also pledged logistical support for the Commission, including the provision of transportation for elections officers .
Three new disease-resistant varieties of rice will soon be released by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for commercial cultivation.
Research confirms that the long-grain varieties , BR240, F10 and BR444, could yield as many as 40 bags of paddy per acre -- some 10 bags per acre above what farmers currently reap in Guyana's five rice-growing regions.
The varieties have been developed with the assistance of three Indian consultants working alongside Guyanese at the GRDB's rice research station at Burma. Their cultivation is expected to increase the production and export of rice by almost 50%.
The European Union (EU) has given US$400,000 to the Elections Commission to cover part of the cost of printing voter identification cards for Guyana's upcoming general elections. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has also pledged US$500,000 for the employment of technical personnel to complement preparations for the polls by the Elections Commission.
The cards are required to enable 457,324 registered Guyanese to vote this year in the country's second free and fair elections since 1964. But the cards will also replace existing ones as permanent means of national identification by their holders.
A team of Chinese entrepreneurs was in Guyana for discussions with industry and agricultural officials on the establishment of a US$6.5 million agro-processing plant in the country. The team represented China Wei-sang International.
Proposals submitted to the Agriculture Ministry by team leader Charles Zhang indicated Wei-sang's interest in processing 300 tonnes of vegetables and fruits each year for export principally to Caribbean, European and North American markets. The company proposes injecting US$2.6 million on the employment of 1,500 persons to produce the commodities on 1,000 acres prime agricultural land in a yet-to-be-chosen rural area, and US$3.9 million on the importation of a state-of-art processing plant.
Team members were scheduled to inspect and conduct soil tests on potential sites in Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo before leaving.
The visit came amid discussions taking place with a 14-member delegation from China's Textile Industrial corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation on a joint venture deal with Guyana's state-run Sanata Textiles Limited.
Cabinet has approved a recommendation by its Sub-Committee on Labor for labor and employer representatives to dominate the trade Union Certification Board, an agency proposed by the Labor Ministry to attest to the choice of a trade union as the bargaining unit of a majority of workers in a given entity. The recommendation was that the seven-member Board should comprise three representatives from the Guyana Trades Union Congress (TUC) , three representatives from the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industries (CAGI), and one representative, the Chairman, from the Ministry of Labor.
Approval was sought by the Cabinet Sub-Committee following dialogue among Labor Ministry Dr Henry Jeffrey, leaders of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Sub-Committee members, to end an impasse over the composition of the Board that has stalled passage of the Trade Union Recognition Bill into law since 1994.
The TUC and CAGI have expressed satisfaction with the recommendation, saying they are now ready to fully support the moving of the Bill to its final stages of parliamentary debate. The Bill seeks to entrench the right of a worker to join a trade union of his or her choice, to have an independent agency certify the choice of that trade union by workers to become their bargaining agent, and to obligate an employer to recognize, accept and deal with a union confirmed by the Certification Board to have been chosen by at least 51% of the workers in a union recognition poll.
The World Bank has agreed in principle to disburse US$6 million to Guyana for the creation of a system of environmental protection in the country's rain forest regions. The project will allow for the development of a provisional protection strategy for Kaieteur National Park, a 224-square mile stretch of territory encompassing Guyana's world-famous Kaieteur Falls; the 900,000-acre Iwokrama Rainforest, an internationally-funded research project site; and Moraballi Forest Reserve.
The approval of funding for the environmental protection program was disclosed in Georgetown recently at the conclusion of a five-day visit to Guyana by a World Bank/Global Environment Facility mission.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced its approval of a US$24 million balance-of-payments support loan to Guyana to help speed up the country's socioeconomic transformation.
The money, approved under the IMF's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, will go toward rebuilding, modernizing and strengthening the infrastructure on which Guyana's economic growth hinges. The loan is to be repaid over ten years, with a five-and-one-half year grace period and at 0.5% interest.
Its approval was announced in Georgetown on the eve of a visit to Washington, DC by Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo and Public Works Minister Anthony Xavier to negotiate the inflow of foreign capital for the construction of five secondary towns in rural Guyana. Finance Ministry officials said the loan, which Guyana will begin drawing down on April 30, indicated further international endorsement of Government's market economy policies.
The IMF has commended Guyana's progress in transforming its economy despite the constraints placed on its growth process by huge debt burden, and has expressed optimism about Guyana's eligibility for financial and technical assistance under a donor-funded initiative for highly-indebted poor countries soon to get underway.
A consortium of entrepreneurs for Trinidad and Tobago have begun pre-feasibility talks on investing in Guyana. The Trinidadians, representing Republic Bank/Merchant Bank Limited and Sir William Halcrow and Partners Limited, are holding talks on the construction of a complex at D'Urban Park and the bridging of the Berbice River.
After a preliminary meeting with a top-level governmental team, the corporate executives expressed willingness to invest US$31 million on the construction of a bridge over the Berbice River and build the D'Urban Park complex on a lease-back arrangement.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is funding a feasibility study being conducted by Danish and Guyanese consultants to help Guyana find ways to develop alternative sources of energy to electrify the country's rural and hinterland regions.
The study, expected to conclude in September, is analyzing the potentials of wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power as new and renewable sources of energy that can be exploited in the immediate and medium term to provide reliable, adequate and affordable supplies of electricity to rural Guyana.
Petroleum and other fossil fuels account for more than 30% of Guyana's imports.
One of Guyana's biggest liquor and soft drink companies, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), increased its profit from $659 million in 1995 to $729 million in 1996 despite a sharp rise in product input costs and tougher competition. The profit generated from a $5.6 billion turnover, will enable the company's shareholders to receive a final dividend of 30%.
DDL, a three-time gold medal winner in international liquor-tasting competitions, markets Pepsi Cola, 7 Up and Slice on behalf of Pepsi Cola International. It is currently negotiating with Barama Company Limited, a plywood firm set up by Malaysian and Korean investors, to market Barama's products abroad.
Amerindian Affairs Minister Vibert DeSouza, presented a boat and engine to the Captain, John Atkinson, during a recent visit to the Santa Rosa Mission. The engine would be able to serve the transportation needs of the entire community.
Ongoing efforts to improve physical infrastructure in Crabwood Creek are moving apace. These projects include the unclogging of 564 rods of silted drainage and irrigation canals, resurfacing of four main access streets with sand and burnt earth, repairing footpath bridges, construction and installation of two new drainage boxes and revetments to 50 feet of broken-down main access dam.
Development works are also proceeding in Corriverton. One such project jointly executed by the Corriverton Town Council and the United Nations International Children Funds (UNICEF) was the installation of 1,016 feet of concrete drains costing $1.5 million, three concrete pathways and public facilities. Currently, massive rehabilitation is in progress on 1,500 rods of deplorable roads and streets, resurfacing them with sand and burnt-earth.
A new health center was commissioned recently by Health Minister Gail Teixeira at Unity/Lancaster, East Coast Demerara. The new health center has filled a vacuum in the delivery of health care in the area.
Fifty new hand-pumps purchased from Venezuela arrived in the country recently and will be installed at specific hinterland and rural locations. These water pumps will help to end water woes in many interior communities. The program will be administered by GUYWA and form part of the Government's program to provide water to all communities, especially those that were never connected.
Michael Wylie is the new Resident Representative of the Organization of American States (OAS) to Guyana. He replaces Mr Paul Spencer, the OAS's first envoy to Guyana since the Washington, DC-based organization opened an office in Georgetown almost four years ago.
Two additional in-service teacher training centers have been established in Regions Three (West Demerara /Essequibo Islands) and Four (Georgetown/Mahaica). The center in Region Three is located at Vreed-en-Hoop Community High School, while the one in Region Four is located on the campus of the Cyril Potter college of Education (CPCE) at Turkeyen. About 100 teachers are benefitting from the establishment of the two new centers.
Road engineers working in East Berbice said that they are severely constrained by the shortage of bauxite capping. The roads affected are located in Black Bush Polder, East Canje and on the East Bank of Berbice. Also the rehabilitation of some community roadways has also been affected by the shortage of capping.
Advanced Level CXC or the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) is scheduled to be launched in Guyana in June 1998. The examination will cater for both full-time and part-time students as well as for people interested in retraining and qualifying for more areas in their field.
The first of 18 new primary schools to be constructed from funds from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government's Primary Education Improvement Project (PEIP) is ready for commissioning. The school is located at Charity on the Essequibo Coast. The 18 new schools under the PEIP should be ready for the new school year and all are to be adequately furnished with proper water and sanitary facilities.
The Guyana Electricity Corporation was forced to move a Caterpillar 1.5 megawatt power generating unit to Onverwagt, West Berbice to boost power supply in the location. Also electricity from Georgetown is being transferred to East Berbice (Cane Field Power Station) via Onverwagt. These steps had to be taken after the power stations in Onverwagt and Cane Field went out of order, disrupting the power supply in these areas. The result was long hours of power outages in the West and East Berbice areas.
A new Dental School and Training Center is to be constructed parallel to the Parade Ground, Georgetown. The new facility will replace the dilapidated one on Thomas Street. Up to date facilities for instructions in dental care will be provided.
Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Satyadeow Sawh has been given responsibility for natural resources. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said that Sawh is now in charge of the sector and specifically, the Guyana Forestry Commission. He takes over from Advisor to the President on the Environment, Science and Technology who held that responsibility up to late last year.
Despite a shortage of stones efforts are still being made to push ahead with road building projects. The new East Coast railway-line road is being surfaced with bitumen. The new highway stretches from Mahaica market to Sheriff Street.
A new sea-dam was constructed at Phoenix Park West Bank Demerara at a cost of $1.5 million. The 1,100-foot dam will prevent sea water invading the new addition to the housing scheme being developed there.
Legislation to update the outdated fines in Guyana's judicial system will shortly be presented to the National Assembly for approval.
The Guyana Water Authority (GUYWA) has installed for the year 1996 about 6,000 new service connections across the country, while 45 pumping stations were commissioned and 84 miles of new pipelines were laid.
The new Guyana Marketing Corporation will extend its services to cash crop farmers in Upper Corentyne.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Independence Activities in DC Area
1. Guyana Food Fair and Fun Day -- May 18 from 12.00 noon on the grounds of the Ambassador's Residence, 6911 Bradley Blvd., Bethesda, MD. Admission is Free.
2. Independence Ball sponsored by Guyanese Organizations in the Washington Metropolitan Area on May 24 at La Fontaine Bleu, 7963 Annapolis Rd., Lanham, MD. Tickets: $45 (Dinner and Bar inclusive). Phone: Teddy Singh 301-735-1533, Gordon Holder 301-459-0486 -- or the Guyana Embassy (for information).
It has been brought to the attention of the Embassy that someone in Miami, Florida has been approaching business persons claiming that he is a representative of a Guyana Government entity. Members of the general public are warned that only the Embassy, the Consulates and Trade Representatives are the authorized representatives of the Government of Guyana in the United States.
Information on Guyana, INTERNET users may check the WEB SITE on GUYANA NEWS AND INFORMATION at: http://www.guyana.org. This site is also linked to other useful Guyana sites. The Embassy's new E-mail address is: GuyanaEmbassy@hotmail.com
Videos of Funeral of President Cheddi Jagan
1. Farewell Great Warrior and 2. State Funeral of President Jagan -- $19.95 each, plus $3 S&H. Phone 1-800-797-6844 or 1-954-797-6844 for credit card and other orders. (GTV Videos)
Religious Activities
Hindu Dharmic Sabha . (301) 699-9573
Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir. Call (301) 593-7638
Islamic Society of the Washington Area. Call 301-588-3650.
Reminder to Guyanese Nationals -
Please ensure that your PASSPORTS are VALID. Do not wait until emergencies arise before you check these documents.FOR YOUR INFORMATION
GUYANA CONSULATES AND HONORARY TRADE REPRESENTATIVES
NEW YORK : Mr. Brentnol Evans, Consul-General
Tel: (212) 527-3215, Fax: (212) 527-3229
CALIFORNIA : Mr. Joseph D'Oliveira, Honorary Consul,
Tel: (213) 222-0899 Fax: (213) 222-0899
FLORIDA : Mr. Hilton Ramcharitar, Honorary Consul, Tel: (954) 797-6844, Fax: (954) 797-7603
TEXAS: Ms Terry Reis, Honorary Consul
Tel: (713) 497-4466, Fax: (713) 497-4476
TEXAS: Mr. Jai Sharma, (Trade Rep)
Tel: (713) 847-5800 Fax: (713) 847-3210
GEORGIA: Mr. Neilson Wray (Trade Rep)
Tel: 770-469-3337 Fax: 770-469-1915 MINNESOTA: Mr. Earl Singh, (Trade Rep)
Tel: (612) 332-0351, Fax: (612) 342-2399
MISSOURI: Mr. Antoine Solomon, (Trade Rep)
Tel and Fax: (314) 830 - 2376
OHIO: Mrs Nazima Ahmed (Trade Rep)
Tel (216) 752 - 8746 Fax: (216) 752 - 1070
All payments for services officially rendered by the Embassy must be made in cash or by money order, bank draft or certified check. Personal and company checks are not acceptable.
To publicize your group's activities in this forum , FAX the information to 202-232-1297 or call 202-265-6900.
To receive a copy of Guyana Update send $5.00 to cover one year's postage to the address below.
Embassy of the Republic of Guyana
2490 Tracy Place NW
Washington DC 20008
202-265-6900/FAX 202-232-1297
(After hours and holidays, FAX 301-365-9467)