New Delhi:Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali held extensive talks focusing on bolstering the overall relations. India announced to step up assistance to the small Caribbean nation in the fields of agriculture and improvement in crop production for food security including crops like Rice and Sugar, pharmaceutical sector including medicines and vaccines, infrastructure to improve people’s lives, defence and security including training and capacity-building for security forces, renewable energy and digital infrastructure.
Guyana — which has seen a major discovery of oil and gas — will help India in the field of energy security, with New Delhi providing technological assistance.
The two nations also inked five MoUs in the spheres of medical production regulation, technological transfer in the hydrocarbon sector, agriculture, digital sector including a strategic alliance to establish a UPI like payment system in the Caribbean nation as well as medical regulation and the pharma sector.
The MEA had earlier said that Guyana is “on the cusp of an economic and developmental transformation with major discovery of oil and gas” and is also “the fastest growing economy in the world”.
It may be noted that the visit comes at a time when China is making major strides in boosting its influence across the South American continent on which Guyana too is located. India and Guyana share a strong cultural bond as Indians were taken to the Caribbean nation as indentured labour during the time of the East India Company and British Raj from 1838 onwards to work in the sugar plantations there.
People of Indian origin now comprise about 40 per cent of Guyana’s population. The two leaders also share a strong camaraderie. Modi was welcomed at the airport personally by President Irfaan Ali who had visited India in January last year. Modi praised the President whom he said had an unbreakable bond with India and described him as the brand ambassador of the Indian-origin Diaspora abroad of whom all Indians are proud. After talks, President Irfaan Ali mentioned the areas in which India would provide assistance including helping Guyana produce vaccines for the region and shoring up his country’s food security in the rice and sugar industries besides food processing.
In his remarks, Modi said that during the talks on Wednesday, many new initiatives had been identified. He described the assistance to Guyana in various sectors as a “top priority” of India. He referred to India’s efforts to boost millet production through seeds for food security including rice, sugarcane, corn and soya and also referred to assistance in boosting skill development and capacity-building for the Caribbean nation.
Modi also said a cultural exchange agreement with Guyana till 2027 would strengthen people to people ties and hailed the Phagwah (Holi) festival of colours as a testament to the common cultural bond binding both nations.
