Surinamese authorities have decided to reopen the illegal route across the Corentyne River from today following discussions between Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and his counterpart in Nickerie yesterday.

Robert Persaud

According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Persaud met with Agriculture Minister of Suriname, Dr Karamchand Ragoebarsingh and the Commissar of Nickerie, B Shankar to discuss that country’s recent closure of the illegal route.

Following the discussions, the Surinamese authorities agreed to lift the closure, allowing border crossing for people, goods and certified agricultural exports.

Persaud, according to the release, welcomed the reopening of the route, and restated Guyana’s commitment to work collaboratively with the Surinamese authorities in the areas of agriculture development, particularly in plant health surveillance and management. The Surinamese Agriculture Minister also used the opportunity to give his commitment to work with Guyana and assured that there will be no barrier to certified agriculture trade.

Stabroek News reported earlier this week on the actions taken by the authorities in Suriname, with officials at Nickerie closing the route sometime last Monday, citing the presence of the plant disease, Black Sigatoka -a yeast disease affecting plantain and banana plants -as  rampant in Guyana.

The Ministry of Agriculture here was informed of the claim by the Surinamese and Persaud subsequently issued a statement, noting that he was due to meet his Surinamese counterpart to discuss the issue.

The two ministers will continue to hold discussions and work towards greater cooperation at the technical level.