Guyana, Brazil push to complete highway
By Joelle Diderich
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil and Guyana agreed Thursday to push for the completion of a highway linking the two nations, in what would represent a major boost to Guyana's weak trade links with the rest of South America. Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso met for talks with his Guyanese counterpart Janet Jagan during her four-day visit to Brazil to drum up trade and cooperation with her country's giant southern neighbour. Cardoso, at a lunch held in honour of Jagan, said English-speaking Guyana represented an important bridge between South America and the Caribbean, with which it has closer cultural and historic links. He called for the further development of Brazil and Guyana's common border areas, many of which are densely forested. "This task will be facilitated as the highway interconnection between our countries is improved. This is a basic objective, essential to stimulate the development of the region," he added. However, he failed to give a timetable for completion of the road or to announce new funds for the project. A mud road cutting through the sparsely populated interior of Guyana is in poor condition and is usually flooded during the rainy season, officials said. The former British colony is currently looking for donors or private sector investors to help it improve the road and complete a link with Boa Vista, capital of the northern Brazilian state of Roraima. It also hopes to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Mercosur customs union, which groups Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, at a massive summit between European and Latin American leaders in Rio de Janeiro in June. "History and other circumstances have put us in a relationship with the Caribbean, but the reality of geography is that Guyana is part of the South American continent and we wish to focus more on our connection with Latin America," Jagan told reporters at a news conference. "It means that in Guyana, we have to pull up our socks and start learning Spanish," she added. In 1997, just $9 million worth of goods crossed the border from Brazil into Guyana and $500,000 of goods flowed the other way, according to a study by the Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). But Guyanese officials said the real value of trade was probably much higher, as much of its was done on the black market. Guyanese Foreign Minister Clement Rohee said his country was hoping to find a market in Mercosur for value-added goods which took advantage of its vast natural resources, which include forests, fish and livestock.
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