Guyana to get US$3-4M more from Germany for forest conservation - Parliament team Stabroek News May 27, 2000 Germany is to grant Guyana another US$3-US$4M in bilateral aid for forestry conservation in the Bartica area in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), the head of a six-member team from the German Parliament said. Briefing reporters, the team leader Klaus-Jurgen Hedrich said that as far as bilateral relations are concerned Germany is interested in the conservation of tropical forest not only in Guyana but in the region because of its importance to mankind. The programme, he said is important not only in the short term but in the long term. Germany has already granted some US$5 million in recent times through bilateral cooperation. The Bartica project, Hedrich said is a pilot project. If that pilot is successful, he said its model could be used in other parts of the country with the support of international donors. At present it was too early to make recommendations on this. Present at the briefing held at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, was the new German Ambassador to Guyana Ulrich Nitzschke who presented his credentials on Monday. The non-resident ambassador is based in Trinidad. The other members of the delegation were Brigitte Adler, Dr Manfred Lischewski, Dr Angelika Koester-Lossack, Dr R. Werner Schuster and Dr Lehmberg. The MPs spent two days in Guyana before leaving for Brazil on Wednesday. They paid courtesy calls on President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Foreign Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, former president Janet Jagan, representatives of the Guyana Human Rights Association and an Amerindian organisation. They also held talks with CARICOM Secretary General, Dr Edwin Carrington and paid a visit to the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre. They did not meet with members of the opposition parliamentary parties. The team was in the country for two days with a packed schedule. Hedrich said that because of this they "were interested in talking to the people in power, the delegation of the European Union and civil society". He added that "for us it was very important for them to sum up their impression of what is going on in the country". The non-governmental organisations and civil society, he said were very critical of government. Nevertheless, he said after being freed of an authoritarian government Guyana was a good way towards strengthening democracy. Hedrich said that the main aim of the visit was to gather information about what is going on in the country as 25% to 27% of money given to Guyana through the EU multilateral mechanism comes from Germany. The bilateral cooperation is not as significant as the cooperation between Guyana and the European Union. Nevertheless, he said that he was deeply impressed with what was going on with the bilateral technical cooperation. In addition, he said that the Germans are interested in seeing what other international institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, which receive substantial funding from Germany are doing in the region with the German funds. It is expected that when the team returns to Germany, the MPs will meet and decide what recommendations they will make to their parliament based on their visit here. This will include recommendations for Guyana and Brazil. The team expressed the hope that in the coming elections Guyana can show to the world that unity can exist in diversity. They called on the government and opposition to work together and ensure that there were no more disruptions after the elections. (Miranda La Rose) Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today