Stakeholders in the aviation industry and the ministries of Transport and Home Affairs on Tuesday reached agreement on security for domestic flights and airports in the backdrop of last week's hair-raising hijacking of a Trans Guyana Aircraft.

It was agreed that:

Responsibility for the safety of the travelling public would be shared by the state, the airline operators and to a certain degree the travelling public;

Security at all interior airstrips will be reviewed jointly and immediate improvements will be implemented;

Security arrangements by the police and the airlines at all locations would be strengthened, where necessary with the provision of special constables;

All security personnel would have authority for 'Search and Seizure and to deny boarding';

The travelling public would be encouraged to be more vigilant and quickly notify the authorities if anything of a suspicious nature is observed;

The group would meet regularly in order to share information with a view to continuously improving the security environment at Guyana's airports and airstrips.

The meeting, the release said, recognized that there was need for stronger collaboration between the airline operators and the Guyana Police Force and it was generally agreed that there was need for a more formal and disciplined approach to passenger screening for all domestic flights, especially at airstrips near border locations.

Those present at the meeting were Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Anthony Xavier; Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj; Director of Civil Aviation, Jeffrey Pierre; President of the Aircraft Owners Association, Mike Correia; Operations Director of Trans Guyana Airways, Captain Roy Jainandan; members of the Air Transport Reform Programme, and the Guyana Police Force.

The meeting, coordinated by Xavier and held in his office, was on account of the hijacking of the Trans Guyana Airways plane with a load of passengers by four men armed with guns after take-off from Lethem last week Wednesday. The hijackers forced the plane to Brazil where they escaped. No one was injured and the pilot, who was made to fly the plane at gunpoint, flew the plane back to Lethem safely but not before being intercepted by a Brazilian military jet.

To date, no word has been had on the progress of the search for the four men who according to travel documents produced were Brazilian, Colombian and Uruguayan. It is believed the men were heading for Venezuela. The assistance of Venezuela and Colombia has been sought as well as Interpol headquartered in France.