Participants were tight-lipped on the outcome of the session but a statement agreed to by all the parties that took part in the more than 90-minute closed-door discussions was to have been issued yesterday.

But Dr. Peter DeGroot, Chairman of the joint consultation, advised the media late yesterday afternoon that due to "unforeseen circumstances we have been unable to finalise the press release".

He said that while attempts were continuing to finalise the press release, "we may be unable to do this before (this) morning."

The joint consultation session organised by the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Bar Association and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) was held at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.

President Jagdeo, in brief comments afterwards, said, "We intend to pursue a specific course of action and that course of action will be outlined in a joint statement which the civil society grouping will issue...so we settled on a course of action and I suppose that that course of action could lead to a subsequent meeting between the group that was involved here and which met (Wednesday night)."

In an earlier statement, the organisers said they had held separate discussions with the President, the Leader of the Opposition and leaders and representatives of parliamentary parties on the consultation.

The discussions focussed on the current national problems in the context of the group's joint paper on `Shared Governance' as envisaged by Article 13 of the amended Constitution of Guyana, the organisers said.

They expected that the issue of crime and security would have also been discussed, the release said.