The Guyana Government is working with the European Union (EU) on a security agenda.
This was announced yesterday by the Government Information Agency which said that Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had met with the Head of the European Union Delegation here, Robert Kopecky.
GINA said that the strategic objectives of cooperation between the EU and Guyana related to the “development of a strong mutually beneficial partnership on the international scene where the two partners will work together towards the shared ideals of democracy and human rights in the fight against poverty and global threats to peace, security and via EU’s assistance, enhancing Guyana’s reform and development agenda to strengthen progress towards the achievement of Guyana’s national goals and objectives”.
Kopecky, and Rune Skinnebach, International Relations Officer, European External Action Service to Guyana paid a visit to Rohee pertaining to Guyana’s security strategy with the body.
“My colleague Mr. Skinnebach is the Caribbean expert with the European External Action Service who is starting his programme mission to key Caribbean countries starting with Guy-ana and continuing to Barba-dos and Trinidad …he will be fact finding, identifying areas for cooperation between the European Union and each member state of CARICOM in the areas of crime, security and drugs…there are funds for lots of these activities but we are at a fact finding stage,” Kopecky said, according to GINA.
The envoy said that the EU this year, is homing in on new areas of cooperation which continue to be important, not only to the EU but, also to the Caribbean Region, as past programmes have seen successful completion, and budgets have been approved for support in other areas such as health and education.
“This will be something very new and this confirms our enjoyment of the partnership shared with Guyana,” Kopecký said.
Skinnebach said that the nature of the mission is primarily security in nature.
“There would be an outlining of a joint European Union- Guyana crime and security strategy…on the regional agenda, crime and security is high and it is not only a main challenge to the Caribbean Region but also to the European Union…it’s an issue of shared concern and is therefore an area we would be happy to be here to advance the agenda and to see how we can optimize the impact of the funds which have been programmed in this field back in 2008,” Skinnebach told GINA.
“We are here now, managing our dialogue with CARICOM and CARIFORUM people to launch the relevant programme…it will be the start of a good relationship which will grow and gradually increase in importance to the field of security…the agenda is a joint one which was defined in close collaboration between the EU and CARICOM member states… at the top of the agenda is drugs and crime coming from drugs which includes money laundering, violence and undermining of resources… there is a host of criminal and social issues covered in this field,” Skinnebach added.
GINA said that Rohee in welcoming Skinnebach said that it has always been a privilege to cooperate in security matters on the international level.
“We are prepared to listen to the good news which has been brought to us, after which we will consider how we will move from there,” Minister Rohee said, according to GINA.
The announcement of co-operation with the EU comes after the fallout between the Guyana Government and the United Kingdom over security reforms. A $1.6B project was scrapped by London in 2009 after a dispute with government. While being initially interested in the project, the government here later expressed disquiet about certain aspects. It is believed that the government balked at the recruitment of foreign personnel among other measures.
