Army's role in drug war for national security seminar Stabroek News April 22, 2000 The role of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in supporting the law enforcement agencies and in helping in the fight against narco-trafficking is among issues to be discussed at a high level two-day seminar to be held here next week. The seminar is being sponsored jointly by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the US Embassy and the United States Southern Command. The theme of the conference is 'Guyana: Developing a Sustainable National Security Strategy.' It is being held, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo, as a result of discussions the Chief of Staff of the GDF, Major General Joe Singh, held with US military personnel and at the level of the Defence Board. The participants will include members of government, the opposition political parties, academia, media, civil society and the security forces. President Jagdeo told reporters on Wednesday at a press conference at the Presidential Secretariat that among issues the government had agreed should be put forward for discussion at the seminar was its commitment to a small professional army backed up by a larger reserve force. Also suggested for discussion were the desirability of a role for the military in support of the law enforcement agencies, which the President said would have to be defined and fall within the context of the Defence Act; the definition of the role of the military in the battle against narcotics, and the kind of resources that would be needed to give effect to this strategy; and the assistance which the US could provide in this area. Explaining that the country's frontier policy remained unchanged, the President observed that at present the army had at its disposal the largest amount of money that has ever been made available to it in the country's history. But he conceded that with the army's recurrent budget growing faster than its capital budget, most of the resources were going towards that. "That is why we are seeking through help from friendly countries to bolster our capital stock," the President said, adding that the US had "already promised some equipment especially for the Marine Section." About the country's border policy, President Jagdeo reiterated that as in the past Guyana's strongest weapon "is the diplomatic weapon".