Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan on Wednesday stated that the signing of the contract for the construction of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, with China-based China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) illustrates the fruitful relationship between the two countries and strengthens bilateral ties.
“In the past 50 years with the deepening and strengthening of China and Guyana’s mutual trust and public support, our pragmatic cooperation has yielded fruitful results. China has become one of Guyana’s most important trading partners for some major infrastructure projects… Another important achievement of China/ Guyana friendly cooperation…” Haiyan told the gathering at the contract signing ceremony at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
She highlighted the achievements since the establishment of their bilateral relationship and noted that many have been in the arena of infrastructural development. These include, road construction, buildings such as the airport, the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, water treatment projects, and hotels.
It was also pointed out that through the bilateral relationship, Chinese enterprises have been playing their part through training opportunities by building capacity, contributions to creating local content jobs, boosting economic development, advancing technological processes, and helping vulnerable groups.
And with China and Guyana on the path to becoming developed countries, evolution is of the greatest common interest to both.
Guyana, she said, is becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and it is notable that the government and Guyanese people are making great effort to accelerate the development of the country.
The Ambassador opined that the latest development project, the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, is a very important bilateral project and is a critical piece of infrastructure for those persons living on either side of the river.
“We believe this new bridge will be a landmark project in Guyana after completion. This new bridge will effectively promote the flow of people and logistics on both sides of the river, save economics and time, cost of transportation and promote regional development. We expect that through working hand in hand by all parties the project will be smoothly promoted and completed with high quality as planned”, she said.
According to the Ambassador, the Chinese government is encouraging competent Chinese enterprises to cooperate with Guyanese partners to make their contribution to the economic and social development of Guyana. She stressed that more joint efforts on both sides will further expand pragmatism in all fields with the outcomes, benefitting the two countries and peoples.
“The 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties is an ideal opportunity to promote greater development of our bilateral relations with solid foundations and broad prospects,” she said. The 50th anniversary of relations will be observed on June 27th.
