Ex-US President Carter paves way for possible gov’t, opposition talks

Jimmy Carter

An intervention by former United States president Jimmy Carter has seemingly paved the way for long-awaited bilateral talks to be held between the government and the opposition, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo revealed yesterday.

Carter, Jagdeo speaking to reporters yesterday, called both him and President David Granger and there has since been a commitment by the latter to lead the talks with the opposition, instead of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, to whom the PPP had previously objected.

“I received a call from President Carter after he had spoken with President Granger and he said to me, ‘I spoke to the president and he said to me that somehow he had sought to engage the PPP and they did not like the interlocutor,’ which is Nagamootoo. So, I sought to explain to President Carter the reason why we didn’t want [Nagamootoo],” Jagdeo said.