Guyana should seek more support for development

Members of the House of Lords in the British Parliament said on Wednesday that Guyana can solicit support in a number of areas to further strengthen bilateral relations with Britain.

A Government Inform-ation Agency (GINA) press release said Prime Minister Samuel Hinds met a team comprising British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler, Lord Ashcroft and Andrew Mitchell, Head of Office for the Department for International Development Nicola Jenns and Secretary of State for International Development Jessica Lever.

The team said Britain, through its active aid programme which has benefited the water sector, can further contribute to the development of other sectors.

Water and sanitation are important ingredients for lifting yourself out of poverty and so an important sum of British finances is going towards helping this sector “and I think it’s money well spent,” Mitchell said. He also said bolstering the security sector was another area identified which Britain is supporting and which the Conservative Party is committed to further developing.

Mitchell gave assurances that in the event of a change in the British government, the existing policies towards development programmes in Guyana will continue.

In August, the Guyana and British governments sealed a four-year Interim Memoran-dum of Understanding for a Security Sector Reform Action Plan to fight and control crime and build the capacity of the law enforcement agency. Support from the UK in the crime fight also included technical expertise to strengthen the crime intelligence capability of the GPF and its response to serious crimes.