Exercise Tradewinds 2021 opens

Jun 14, 2021 News

Kaieteur News- Exercise Tradewinds 2021 was opened officially yesterday. The formal session was held at the Drill Square, Base Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown.
Exercise Tradewinds is a Caribbean-focused training programme designed to help participants better respond to natural disasters, land and maritime threats. Guyana is the host of this year’s exercise and it is sponsored by the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).
The exercise commenced on Saturday, June 12, 2021, and will conclude on June 26, 2021. The security exercise is multi-national in nature and will see the involvement of 17 nations. The participating nations are; Belize, Bermuda, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Haiti, Mexico, Netherlands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and the United States of America.

Military representatives from 14 nations are currently in Guyana for the exercise and were yesterday present at the of

ficial opening of the exercise.

Chief of Staff, Brigadier Godfrey Bess, in his brief remarks said, “Today, we begin the execution of our plans for this exercise in real-time. Up until June 26, we

Scenes from the opening yesterday for Exercise Tradewinds 2021.

aim to work alongside each other, putting to work best practices as far as joint interagency collaborative engagement is suitable for addressing the various challenges in our nations.”
Brigadier Bess told the members

of the various contingents that he was looking forward to a high degree of professionalism across the spectrum of training elements and a successful exercise. He then affirmed the government’s commitment to the exercise and thanked the participants for their bravery due to the COVID-19 pan

demic. Brigadier Bess also urged the participa

nts to exercise all safety protocols throughout the conduct of the exercise.

The USSOUTHCOM Director of Exercises and Coalition Affairs, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Kevin Bostick, praised Guyana for hosting this year’s exercise and also the work of the key exercise planners.
He added that despite challenges posed by the pandemic, the event planners were able to mitigate the ‘common enemy’ and complete the exercise in the best way possible. Lieutenant Colonel Bostick also acknowledged that it is indeed a great endeavour to continue with the exercise in the current circumstances, and noted that it is also important that the exercise be used to build partnerships and strengthen capacity in security efforts to defeat threats if need be.

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