NEGOTIATIONS are soon to begin between the Foreign Ministry and United States authorities on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will seek to address the need for a formal mechanism to govern the return of criminal deportees to Guyana.

A source told this newspaper yesterday that negotiations on the MOU will begin as soon as U.S. Ambassador Mr. Ronald Goddard, who is currently overseas, returns to Guyana.

The U.S. and Guyana started discussions on the MOU more than a month ago in an effort to hammer out a framework agreement that would provide a clear mechanism for handling deportees in the future and for delegating responsibilities on both sides.

It is understood that a number of relevant agencies in Guyana such as the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Foreign Ministry and the Office of the President have prepared a draft understanding of the conditions they would like to have in place for the orderly return of deportees to Guyana.

It is this draft that will be negotiated soon between the U.S. authorities and the Foreign Ministry, the source said.

On December 18 last, the United States lifted the visa ban it had imposed on issuing non-immigrant visas to Guyanese which was triggered by a dispute over the return of criminal deportees to this country.

The ban went into force on October 10, 2001 after Guyana failed to meet a 30-day deadline the U.S. set for it to put arrangements in place for the deportation of 113 Guyanese U.S. lawbreakers.

Foreign Minister, Mr. Rudy Insanally told the Chronicle that the lifting of the visa ban has set the stage for concrete negotiations between the two countries on an MOU that will set out clearly the conditions under which Guyanese would be deported in the future.

Guyana's diplomatic missions in Washington and New York have been working on verifying claims by a few of the deportees that they are entitled to benefits for having lived and worked in the U.S. for a number of years.

The MOU is expected to have mechanisms in place to address such a situation in the handling of deportees in the future, officials said.