Not too many Guyanese are likely to forget what in recent times, was by far the highest point in relations between Guyana and neighbouring Suriname when presidents Irfaan Ali and Chan Santokhi were either showing up in each other’s capitals, or else, otherwise making the point to the rest of the world about their oil ‘fortunes’ and how these would become the catalyst for the transformation of bilateral relations which, up until then, had been characterised by a discomfiting prickliness deriving mainly from the age-old Corentyne River dispute. If this has endured as an issue between the two countries, the circumstances in both Georgetown and Paramaribo had converged sufficiently to allow for a setting aside of the river dispute and anchoring bilateral relations to the mutual likelihood of such relations being set on a much more convivial path.
In that context, presidents Irfaan Ali and Chan Santokhi, can be credited with the embarkation of a high-level diplomacy journey which, potentially, could alter the timbre of relations between the two countries.
