Iran’s offer to map Guyana’s mineral wealth non-specific

Iran’s offer to map Guyana’s mineral wealth non-specific – Luncheon

Feb 07, 2010 News

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, has stressed that Iran’s offer to assist Guyana in mapping its mineral wealth is non-specific, and does not focus on any particular mineral resource, such as uranium.

The government this week took issue at media reports quoting Parliamentarian Raphael Trotman expressing concern about the deal. Trotman said that Iran makes no secret of its search for uranium. Guyana has deposits of uranium.

Iran raised eyebrows last year with offers to help map uranium deposits in Venezuela, where leftist President Hugo Chavez supports Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The United States, Britain, Germany and France are seeking a fourth round of U.N. measures against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment as part of its nuclear programme, as demanded by Security Council resolutions.

“The terms and the conditions under which that support has been offered did not seek to identify a particular ore or mineral,” Luncheon stated Friday of Guyana’s agreement with Iran.

He explained that Guyana lacks the capability to conduct geological surveys and mapping activities in support of gold, diamond and other mining activities.

“Unfortunately, the practice has suffered from financing and the geological survey sector has not actually grown in parallel with gold and diamond (mining) where geological work has been undertaken in the context of prospecting licences by large and medium scale miners,” he stated.

Dr. Luncheon underlined that it is this gap that Iran will be assisting Government to fill, noting that work will be conducted all over Guyana in collaboration with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).

Last Wednesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkette, said the visit of President Bharrat Jagdeo to Iran was in response to an invitation that was made many months ago, and formed part of a visit to other countries in the region.

She said that Iran is a country that has excellent capabilities in several areas including geological science and the Guyanese team was exposed to some of the work they are doing in this regard.

“The co-operation with Iran in this specific area is aimed at building the capacity of our people at the GGMC, which will help us to produce our own data and better plan for the sector. It is not aimed at focusing on any particular mineral or jeopardising the interest of any State,” the Foreign Affairs Minister stated.

She said Iran has similar programmes in Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador and other co-operation programmes with Brazil and Dominica.

She did not share Trotman’s fear that the Iranian co-operation deals could create a conflict with the United States of America.

She said that Guyana has enjoyed friendly relations with the United States over the years and there are many areas of common interest which the two countries share.

As a responsible Government, she said Guyana refrains from narrowly categorising countries and fully agree with the Assistant Secretary of State of the Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States, Mr. Arturo Valenzuela, who recently said that “we must avoid looking at the world in Manichean terms, where countries are divided simplistically into friends and enemies and we focus on leaders as good guys and bad guys.”

President Jagdeo, the Foreign Minister and the other members of the Guyana delegation also visited Kuwait and Dubai. Both of these countries enjoy good relations with the United States and share several areas of common interest.

Guyana has signed three agreements with the Government of Kuwait, including on bilateral consultation and the protection of investment.

“We will be signing another three agreements shortly, including one on the avoidance of double taxation. All of this is being done as we create the appropriate regimes for investment,” Rodrigues-Birkette stated.

Additionally, she said that several countries in the Middle East have done well in managing their oil wealth among other areas.

“We are hoping to start drilling for oil shortly and it is therefore important to learn from the experiences of those countries,” she stated.

According to Rodrigues-Birkette, “The world is now more interconnected than ever before and many of the issues that confront us are global in nature. In this regard it is imperative that we strengthen our relations with our traditional partners while we seek new alliances.”