PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has urged members of the diplomatic community not to let their familiarity with local issues colour their judgement or their reports about developments taking place here as this could cause irreversible damage to the country’s image abroad.

“The rest of the world sees Guyana through your eyes in many cases. It’s your reports back to head offices and to ministries that create impressions about various issues here in this country,” President Jagdeo said Friday.

“You have a very powerful weapon in your hands through these reports that you send back,” he told the select gathering at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel for the annual diplomatic dinner in his honour.

While he had nothing but praise for the high quality of representation here from the various countries, whose objective reportage has been of tremendous help to Guyana, President Jagdeo said he also knew of many gathered in the very room who “have developed a closeness with our society which has allowed them to become familiar with many issues in a very intimate way.”

Due to a lack of understanding of the Government’s position, however, &#x201reports go back which can harm our country, and create impressions that take a very long time to undo,” he said.

Ditching the prepared speech he had originally intended using in favour of sharing a few thoughts with the diplomatic corps on some aspects of Guyana’s domestic and foreign policies, the President said his actions were spurred by the notion that they would better understand some of the thinking at the Government level that goes into decision-making and why certain positions are taken on various issues.

For instance, he said, many are the reports emanating from different sources, and not necessarily from the Community, that have questioned Guyana’s commitment to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

“But,” the President said, “let me make it clear tonight. We’re absolutely committed to free trade in this hemisphere. We think that there’re numerous benefits to be gained from trading freely between countries and allowing capital and goods and eventually people to move freely between countries. It’s a very efficient system.”

“Yet, by the same token,” he said, “countries like ours have to be concerned about how these agreements are implemented, and sometimes we get so caught up in talking about issues of implementation that that is mistaken for lack of commitment.

“But we have to be concerned,” he said, “because more than 50 per cent of our revenue comes in from taxation on international trade, including not just the tariff, but consumption taxes as well.

“And if that goes overnight, we can have a huge chop to our revenue and immediately economic turmoil,” as this will have an effect on things like wages and salaries, debt service and social services.

Another concern of the Government, Mr Jagdeo said, relates to many of its activities. Using the many recommendations it has had from consultants in the various fields that it should consider diversification as a prime example, President Jagdeo said the obvious question here is: “Into what?”

Another would be whether we have the institutions here that could promote this constant process of change within our country. “To diversify to create a new sector sometimes takes decades,” he said.

Noting that this concern of the Government also stems from the fact that many of Guyana’s traditional industries are on the wane, President Jagdeo said: “So, if from time to time you hear us speak about these concerns, it’s not because we’re not committed to the process, but because we have real-life concerns, and if they’re not addressed, they will lead to major problems in our country.”

On the issue of terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the USA, President Jagdeo said statements to the effect that the root cause of this violence has its origins in economic and political oppression was nothing new, since he’s had his own experiences with some local diplomats during the post-elections unrests here in Guyana.

“I was urging them to condemn the violence. Many statements were issued which said ‘we condemn the violence, but there must be greater inclusivity’,” he said.

Though he is yet to fathom “how attacking innocent people on the streets be linked to some notion of exclusion,” he is of the opinion that violence of any form should be condemned and should not be linked to anything. “It’s not a way of solving problems,” he said.

As for the notion that the Government sees civil society as being a threat, President Jagdeo said: “That’s absolutely untrue. I believe that civil society has a very important role to play in the development of the country, but I will continue to make harsh statements because many of these organizations, which say they advocate on our behalf, and sometimes use violence to do it, don’t understand Third World issues.”

He singled out Jubilee 2000 as being among “some very good organisations” for shedding new light on the debt situation in Third World countries in the industrialised world.

“They put it squarely on the agenda and it helped tremendously because governments in that part of the world started paying attention to it,” he said.

Noting that there are those civil organisations, too, with such strong political links it is sometimes difficult to tell where their allegiance lies, President Jagdeo said: “They use it as a cover in many cases to raise funds.”

Again, he said, there are others who feel that they have to oppose, as it’s their only means of acquiring funds from international organisations.

One such organisation, he said, is a local group, which though it professes to represent the affairs of Amerindian peoples, is opposed to the development of a Protected Areas System in their area because of an age-old difference with the Government over land-rights.

Acknowledging his growing impatience with such organisations, the President said some even go as far as to use money to buy off the most articulate people within some communities so as “to get them to represent various positions which may not be in keeping with what the majority of the people in these villages want.”

Before he was through with his presentation, President Jagdeo also touched on the thorny deportee issue and how it could affect the fight against drugs; the private sector and how the diplomatic community can help with bringing about a change in attitude, particularly with regard to being less dependent on the Government; and the issue of democratic changes taking place here.

On behalf of his colleagues, new Dean of the Diplomatic Community, Colombian Ambassador Mr Luis Guillermo Martinez, assured President Jagdeo that their dinner in his honour was not intended to fulfill “an act of protocol suited to international diplomacy.”

“We do so to emphasise his achievements; to express to him our friendship; and to manifest our recognition of the efforts of the Government in achieving progress and attaining higher levels of economic and social development for the benefit of all its citizens.”

Noting that dialogue, peaceful understanding, good relations between individuals, people and countries is what “permits us to continue progressing towards a more friendly and civilised world”, Mr Martinez said it is therefore incumbent upon us “to overcome the complex challenges of a social and economic nature, despite having begun the new century with serious threats never before imagined.”

“Undoubtedly, what the world is saying to us is that there can be no other way but to cement peaceful, sustainable, progressive and just nations.

“A resounding ‘no’ to terrorism, as was recently expressed by President Jagdeo and so many other Heads of State will be a constant in the struggle for human survival and the strengthening of societies committed to understanding, peace, and justice,” Ambassador Martinez concluded.