Talks continuing on Brazil road link
DISCUSSIONS are ongoing between engineers from Guyana and the State of Roraima in Brazil on the road link from Boa Vista. Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr Anthony Xavier reported last week that the parties met recently and examined the idea of putting together a team to conduct surveys, with a view to assisting Guyana to repair certain sections of the road which has been dogged by problems. Officials from both countries acknowledged the need to fast-track the road link from Boa Vista at an historic first high-level institutional meeting in Boa Vista, Roraima, in April. The Guyanese delegation which included Minister Xavier, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry, Mr Geoffrey Da Silva; Guyana's Ambassador to Brazil, Mrs Cheryl Miles; President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), Captain Gerry Gouveia and President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce, Mr Mohamed Khan, along with other private sector representatives, committed itself to putting in place some key areas for the benefit and development of both sides. These include establishing immediately a key liaison person in Boa Vista with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism in Guyana; ensuring that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs works faster to establish a Guyana consulate in Boa Vista, as well as a frontier mission between Guyana and the State of Roraima. At that meeting, Xavier urged that no more time be wasted since a number of decisions were taken in the past and are still to be realised. He noted too, the Guyana Government's disappointment at the non-action. There has been movement for several years between Guyana and Brazil, which has a population of some 170 million people. The peoples of Brazil, in particular those from the two northern states of Roraima and the Amapa, are anxious to do business with Guyana. They see the road from Lethem as vital for their development, as their access to the Caribbean and North American markets is dependent on construction of such an intercontinental link.
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