All set for Bolsonaro visit

Jan 21, 2022 Letters

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– energy, deepening of trade ties high on agenda

Kaieteur News – President Dr. Irfaan Ali Thursday evening flew back home after a one-day visit to neighbouring Suriname where he along with the leaders of that country and Brazil discussed a range of issues. And today he will host President of the Federative Republic of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil–Guyana relations have traditionally been close. Brazil has provided military assistance to Guyana in the form of warfare training and logistics. Bilateral relations between the countries have recently increased, as a result of Brazil’s new South-South foreign policy aimed to strengthen South American integration.

In Suriname on Thursday President Ali met with the President of the Republic of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi and President Bolsonaro for a working lunch at Torarica Hotel in Paramaribo. Ali discussed enhancing cooperation in a number of areas, including infrastructure, trade and energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release. Talks between the nations will be advanced at the ministerial level in the coming months. Ahead of the meeting the Office of the President had said that the three leaders were expected to discuss the formation of an energy corridor, oil and gas and other natural resources opportunities, among areas of common interest. “Discussions will centre on improving economic relations, energy and food security, telecommunications, agriculture, infrastructure integration and the development of a deep water harbour in Guyana.”
The OP said since Guyana offers the shortest and quickest access to the Atlantic for significant parts of northern Brazil, a road connection linked to the deep-water port could also serve the interest of both countries. When the two leaders spoke last Monday via teleconference, they discussed enhancing the partial scope agreement between their nations with the hope of bolstering trade. They also deliberated on topics for further engagements at the Ministerial levels.
Today President Bolsonaro and a team of officials are expected to travel to Georgetown for a special one-day official visit with President Ali and his Cabinet Ministers. Ali had listed energy, food security, telecommunication, infrastructure integration and trade as some of the issues he would like to discuss with his Brazilian counterpart. President Ali also wants to discuss the possibility of Brazil assisting with the development of Guyana’s bauxite industry and increasing the quota for rice exports under a partial scope agreement.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) says the Government of Guyana should use the opportunity at the upcoming meeting to re-habilitate its tattered credibility on climate issues, by distinguishing its Amazonia policies, from the Brazil leader’s scorched earth approach. In a statement on Saturday, the GHRA said the visit by Bolsonaro creates a dilemma for this country. Underscoring that closer relations with Brazil – Guyana’s major supporter on its long-standing border controversy with Venezuela – are always welcome, the GHRA said at the same time, however, it is distasteful to everyone around the world concerned with the environmental and climate crises to have to deal with President Bolsonaro personally. “Squaring this circle is the difficult task facing the Government of Guyana,” the human rights body stated.
The GHRA said only last month, December 2021, over one million people worldwide signed an AVAAZ petition calling on the International Criminal Court “to take all necessary steps to start an investigation into Brazil’s, President Jair Bolsonaro, for possible crimes against humanity over his government’s policies against the Amazon and its people. We urge member states to take action to ensure that severe damage to the environment, whether widespread or long-term, is fully recognized as a crime of ecocide, and can be prosecuted under international law.
The global Petition went on to state that Bolsonaro “green-lighted illegal mining and logging in indigenous lands, sabotaged environmental laws and now the destruction of the Amazon has risen by more than 20% in a year – a loss equivalent to 3,000 football fields per day”. Additionally, in 2019, President Bolsonaro accused “NGOs” of setting the Amazon forest fires, while continuously ignoring illegal clear-cutting by supporters who were emboldened by his right-wing Government.
“The one positive from the visit would be the opportunity it offers for the Guyana Government to engage with Brazil on environmental and climate issues and simultaneously break its own prolonged silence on where it stands on them. In stark contrast to a decade ago, when Guyana’s opposition to deforestation was globally recognized, the current obsession with oil, gas and gold mining expansion has completely swept these concerns off the table,” the GHRA said.
It added: “It remains to be seen whether the Government will seize this opportunity to re-habilitate its tattered credibility on climate issues, by distinguishing Guyana’s Amazonia policies from President Bolsonaro’s scorched earth approach. Not doing so will reinforce the current image of Guyana inviting all-comers, reputable and disreputable, into an orgy of natural resource extraction. To deter comparison with the reckless approach of the Brazilian President, the Guyana Government needs to clarify the non-negotiables which ought to distinguish Guyana’s Amazonia policies from those of its neighbour.” The GHRA said joint involvement in such discussions by all Parliamentary parties would both give credence to claims to their having espoused ‘green’ climate and ’green’ development policies, as well as give some impetus to developing a genuine national position on climate change and the environment.

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