WHIRLWIND OF MEETINGS IN WASHINGTON

Aug 02, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

There was much speculation over the last week or so concerning the President and his entourage’s visit to Washington, the US capital city. Those who have a penchant for political sniping at the Ali administration, had a field day.

Lurching from what could be described as reasonably acceptable assessments of the visit to the most ridiculous ones, speculation was rife inferring that the President was ‘summoned’ to Washington and that the visit was ‘hurriedly arranged.’

Introducing the word ‘summoned’ suited the narrative framed by the cynics and critics who sought to disparage and to make the Ali administration look bad.

Those who joined that particular bandwagon have either short memories or know little or nothing about diplomacy and the conduct of international relations between states.

From a global perspective, there have been many instances in the conduct of diplomacy before and after Heads of States or high level officials would have journeyed to ‘jaw jaw’ with their counterparts of other states on a bilateral basis.

Guyana has an impressive track record of similar engagements through decades of diplomatic practice. However, not to be overlooked is the fact that there have been episodes in Guyanese/American relations, as a result of which, the world was able to assess on a scale of one to ten, Guyana’s place vis-a-vis America’s hemispheric agenda.

The first of such episodes was in 1961 when Premier Jagan and President Kennedy met in October 1961, at the White House for an exchange of views on the future of an independent British Guiana under conditions of the Cold War.

The second occasion was in November 1978, prior to the Jonestown mass suicide, when the US Congressman Leo Ryan, travelled to Guyana to investigate complaints, which he had received from his constituents about the harsh conditions they were experiencing at Jonestown. Ryan was killed and Guyana won for itself a badge for international notoriety.

Involvement of representatives of the legislative arm of the United States in a country’s domestic affairs is not to be underestimated. The impact of their involvement in Guyana’s 1992 and 2020 elections attests to this fact.

The third occasion was in August 1993 when President Cheddi Jagan, along with four other CARICOM leaders, was invited to the White House by President Clinton to discuss ways and means of addressing the Haitian crisis.

The fourth occasion was at the First Summit of the Americas in December 1994 when President Clinton applauded the ideas advanced by President Cheddi Jagan aimed at strengthening the partnership between CARICOM member states and the Americas.

Guyanese journalists and reporters of that era were of a highly professional calibre and shied away from inventing calumnies and pouring cold water on high-level visits aimed at boosting bilateral engagements between the two countries.

Bilateral engagements at the highest levels are rarely hurried, take for example the following: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently announced that he requested a telecon with his American counterpart, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. When asked by a reporter to give details of what might be the issues to be discussed Lavrov, the consummate diplomat, replied stating; “It’s a work in progress.”

In that way, Lavrov telegraphed to the reporter that his staff and Blinken’s were hard at work behind the scenes hammering out the details for an agenda for the telecon between the two top diplomats.

As regard the recent two hour telecon between Presidents Xi of China and Biden of America, a keen and open-minded observer would have concluded that much effort and sensitive travail preparatoire would have been done by Chinese and American diplomatists to settle on a list of items for discussion between the Presidents of two major world powers.

These two examples situated in the context of President Ali’s meetings in Washington would have undoubtedly, followed a similar pattern with the involvement of the US Ambassador to Guyana, her principals at the State Department along with Guyanese officials at the Office of the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Long before Ali’s arrival in Washington, bilateral engagements would have taken place in Georgetown between the US embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Office of the President with the aim of setting up the delegation’s meetings in Washington, venues, dates, timings, as well as preparation and signing off of briefs on issues of mutual interest.

All of this could not have been done while the delegation was in Washington on the basis of adhocracy nor on the spur of the moment.

Serious background work had to be done, policy positions discussed and formulated and agreement reached with Eximbank prior to the departure of the President from Guyana.

In the circumstances, the hue and cry about the President being summoned to Washington is nothing but a false flag.

The protocolar issues aside, the meat of the issues discussed is what should be of concern to us all.

Blinken in a tweet said, “Guyana remains a key partner as we work to bolster food and energy security, promote shared prosperity and inclusive growth, strengthen transparency, and safeguard the environment”.

Opposition politicians and civil society activists here in Guyana would, no doubt, find the words; ‘work to bolster and to promote shared prosperity and inclusive growth, strengthen and transparency’ applicable and consistent with the political flavour of the day in Guyana.

Moreover, when Vice President Harris noted that she “looked forward to continuing her collaboration with President Ali in promoting inclusive democracy, economic development, and security for all Guyanese…”’her remarks were similar to Blinken’s save that they were more focused and emphatic. After all, she was conveying a message to President Ali on behalf of President Biden who was indisposed due to a COVID-19 positive test.

In the context of hemispheric and Caribbean affairs, Guyana has never fell off the radar of the US. In good times and bad times, the US has always paid close attention to political developments in Guyana as it doing now and as was manifested in the whirlwind of meetings in Washington.

And if it was that Washington has concerns about China’s growing influence in its ‘backyard’ then as was reported, President Ali stated that:

“They (China) have supported the development path of many countries have supported the development part of Guyana. They’ve invested in different projects over the years as the United States and we’ll be encouraging the US to become more aggressive and to take more strategic space, a place in this space and the region.“The United States, like all the other countries:  China, the UK …Cuba, you are our friends. You are our partners,” said President Ali

 

Yours faithfully,

Clement J. Rohee

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