President Bharrat Jagdeo sent the word out at the Atlanta Development Cooperation Forum that Guyana was open for investments and said he hoped that this would get out to business interests in the US.

Sharing a breakfast meeting with senior officials of some top US companies, Jagdeo indicated to them that while they might not be looking for investment opportunities they were welcome to come to Guyana and see what opportunities there were.

The President told reporters yesterday that there was positive feedback to his offer.

Among the companies represented were Delta AirLines, the Mirant Corp, BellSouth International, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Coca-Cola, Invesco, Troutman Sanders and King and Spalding. Jagdeo noted that UPS and Coca-Cola were already in Guyana. He said he expected that there could be a visit to Guyana as a result of his invitation.

The Development Cooperation Forum dealt with human security and the future of development cooperation and sought to share country experiences in the development cooperation process.

Jagdeo was one of three presidents (others being Joaquim Alberto Chissano of Mozambique and Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali) invited to the forum, which was also attended by the international financial institutions and development agencies such as UNDP and USAID.

Jagdeo said that the forum, also attended by Guyanese Dr Kenneth King, Jocyln Dow, Hugh Cholmondoley and Stanley Ming, was very high level and useful. He said he sought to share Guyana's experience as a recipient country and dealt with a number of systemic issues in the development process, which needed to be addressed. He cited Guyana's case for debt relief.

The President said that the conclusions of the forum were that very little resources were being allocated for development assistance and that many developed countries were not fulfilling their obligations to the developing world. He said another conclusion was that the world was now more interdependent and the problems are common because if there was an environmental disaster in one place, it affects others and poverty has implications for industrialised nations. And the third understanding was that very little is known of the problems in developing countries by citizens in developed countries and there was need for a campaign to sensitise people on this issue.

Jagdeo said the perception remained that poverty was because all leaders are dictators, had squandered the money or focused only on military spending. He noted that the mainstream media in the developed countries focused heavily on negative reporting on developing countries and does not put in perspective developmental issues confronting these nations.

The forum also heard the fears of many leaders about where the world system of ,"Trade and finance is going in that traditional systems are replaced by systems, which further marginalise the poor. Jagdeo said many people are worried about double standards being applied. For example, he noted that the multinational agencies when confronted with a recession in a developing country prescribe cutting the fiscal deficit but prescribe for the same situation in a developed country expanding the fiscal deficit. These inconsistency, the President said, reflects itself everyday.

Jagdeo said he sought to show that there are real cases of double standards, which could be itemised. He said it was frustrating that there is no forum for developing countries to air these issues in the systemof international relations as it is only if a country poses a systemic risk that they are listened to.

He said that what the forum was advocating for was for a forum to allow for developing countries to share their views on their evolution of the world system and to have these taken account of.

Jagdeo said the meeting allowed for creative and not acrimonious tension to hear the views of all sides.