In an address to launch ‘Big Brothers, Big Sisters’ Partnerships with the Volunteer Youth Corps in New York on March 30 last, the Ambassador touched on a wide range of subjects including relations between the United States and Guyana, the crime situation and its effects on the economy and the need to rebuild political consensus here.

The ‘Big Brothers, Big Sisters’ scheme is sponsored by the Organisation for Social and Health Advancement in Guyana.

We publish below the full text of the Ambassador’s address at the launching:

The Diaspora Factor
I have been a Foreign Service Officer for many years. I have served in seven different countries. Never before Guyana had I served in a country where the U.S. community in the United States was so large and influential. I have yet to see a credible figure on exactly how many Guyanese residents or Americans of Guyanese origin there are in the U.S. But the large size of the community was dramatised for me at our commemorative ceremony last year when I unveiled a plaque at the Embassy dedicated to those from Guyana who were among the victims on September 11. At that ceremony, I felt safe in saying that proportionate to its population, Guyana lost more of its sons and daughters on September 11 than any other country.

A successful expatriate community gives a developing country a decisive edge. It is a factor that the development experts are increasingly taking into account as they prepare their strategies. For one thing, remittances, the money sent home to relatives and friends, is an enormous source of private capital. (In the Western Hemisphere, nearly 80 per cent of these remittances come from the U.S.). The International Financial Institutions, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) leading the way, are giving increasing attention to this important source of private sector investment. The current Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Andrew Natzios, has also identified this as an important area for encouraging partnerships for development.

Like every other immigrant group in this hemisphere, you have not forgotten about your country of origin. And you are obviously a generous community. According to a recent IDB study, Guyana is third in the hemisphere for the percentage of remittances received (16.6 per cent of GDP).

One sector almost every one expects to grow in Guyana is tourism. Ecotourism to the country’s pristine rain forests is especially promising, but so is “sentimental” tourism - going back to visit the land of one’s childhood or one’s parents - and tourism strategists target the expatriate community. Ties to Guyana persist over the years and sometimes over the generations. I have an army enlisted man who was sent down for temporary duty at the Embassy. His folks emigrated from Guyana when he was a small child. He keeps extending his tour because he is fascinated by his country of origin. Just this week, I met a wonderful family from Rochester, New York who had come back to New Amsterdam to operate a small business after over 35 years in the U.S. They introduced me to their son who had just graduated from West Point and was off to Korea for his first Army assignment, another child recently finished law school at my alma mater, the University of Texas. That family illustrates the potential for attracting expatriates with special skills to contribute to the country’s development.

To help evaluate how we might encourage expatriates participation in Guyana’s development, I tasked my USAID Mission to do a detailed study of remittances. In other countries, remittances have been a tremendous stimulus for economic and social development, and I want to make sure that we do everything possible to encourage this flow of resources. It is probably more, but initial research gave us a conservative estimate of 300,000 Guyanese in the U.S. (When I mention that figure to one of my Guyanese friends they always give me a knowing look of disbelief - every one thinks it is much more). Similarly, we conservatively estimate that the flow of remittances from the U.S. to Guyana is $100M. (Here again, everyone believes it is much more).

In part, because of migration, the phenomenon of globalisation is a bad word in the Caribbean. For most Guyanese, changes in the world environment associated with globalisation are viewed as negative changes. The brain drain is first among them. We all know about teachers and nurses being actively recruited for jobs in New York. I see new immigrants every day in the consular waiting room of the Embassy.

During the last two years, we have issued about 15,000 immigrant visas. That represents over two per cent of the population. But massive shifts of population are common in the modern world. With constantly improved technology, the world is inevitably getting smaller and more interconnected. Travel between Guyana and the U.S. is getting easier all the time. Communications have improved dramatically and will get even better. People are more mobile than ever before. Folks in New York read the Georgetown newspapers off the Internet at the same time as I read them over breakfast table back home. In those newspapers, I find lively participation by expatriate Guyanese in the letters to the editor. Your contacts with relatives and friends can be as regular as if they lived next door. Today, immigrants are not irreparably lost to the homeland.

Following the pattern of many other immigrant groups, the Guyanese Diaspora has organised itself to stay in touch with the folks back home and to be more effective as an economic factor in Guyana. So called “hometown associations” are engaged in activities ranging from infrastructure projects to charitable aid to business investment. (There are almost 200 such organisations in the U.S. and Canada). Everyday I seem to discover yet another exchange programme between the two countries that has been inspired by Guyanese in the U.S. I would like to see the U.S. Embassy play a helpful role in encouraging the activities of these hometown associations.

People-to-people programmes, such as the hometown associations, are the best way of building enduring friendly ties between nations. I am also constantly amazed by the countless American missionary groups active in Guyana and the good work they are doing all over the country. And speaking of people-to-people programmes, I am especially proud of our Peace Corps Volunteers in Guyana. We have about 50 volunteers working in some of the most remote corners of the country in health, education and information technology. Because of the wonderful reception they have received, we plan to double the size of Peace Corps in Guyana.

U.S./Guyanese Relations
Now a word about the status of U.S. relations with Guyana. My Embassy in Georgetown recently went through a comprehensive inspection by a five-member inspection team from the Department of State. Embassies are subject to a thorough going-over every 5-7 years, and it had been six years since we were last inspected. In addition to checking the books and counting the silver at the Ambassador’s residence, they look at the state of relations between the two countries.

I have yet to see the final report, but in general I believe the inspectors agreed with my assessment that relations between the United States and Guyana are as good as they have ever been. That is not to say that they could not be better. But compared to the past, Guyana and the United States have developed a good partnership. Guyana has been very good on terrorism. The response from the Government and people of Guyana after September 11 was overwhelmingly sympathetic and supportive.

We have had an active narcotics cooperation programme and look forward to strengthening that relationship in the coming years. Trade between the two countries is booming. In 2002, we accounted for 40 per cent of Guyana’s imports, the largest percentage of any country and we purchase 29 per cent of their exports. Guyana coordinates with its Caribbean Community partners on many international issues, and we often vote differently at United Nations. But we pretty much agree on trade issues. The government is committed to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, but like the rest of the Caribbean, Guyana is holding out for special and differential treatment for its small, vulnerable economy. The U.S. is sympathetic to that position, and we are trying to bring around some of our Latin American friends who are not.

U.S. Programmes
U.S. assistance in Guyana is channelled into four key areas: Democratic institution building, economic development, security assistance and HIV/AIDS. I would like to say a few words about each of these programmes.

To strengthen democratic institutions, there is a pressing need to rebuild political consensus in Guyana. Politics continues to tear the country apart. We are providing funding for electoral reform, and for the legislative and judicial branches. But tension between the two major political parties, the Peoples Progressive Party and the Peoples National Congress, which in turn aggravates ethnic tension, is the greatest threat to Guyana’s democracy. Political uncertainties have scared off foreign investment.

The dramatic increase in violent crime in 2002 became a bitter partisan issue, threatening to divide the population along ethnic lines. As crime has escalated, the police themselves, already demoralised by limited training and equipment, have been heavily targeted by criminal elements and over 20 of their ranks have been gunned down in cold blood. On the other hand, there have been a number of fatal police shootings under questionable circumstances that have undermined public confidence in law enforcement and demonstrated the need for greater discipline and additional training.

Police reform is the key to getting crime under control but that and other key reforms, can only succeed if there is cooperation between the country’s two major political forces.

To get things back on track, the U.S. has joined with others in the international community, notably the British and the Canadians, to urge a resumption of high-level talks between President Jagdeo and the new leader of the opposition, Robert Corbin. Jointly, we have strongly supported the naming of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s special envoy, Sir Paul Reeves, a senior statesman from New Zealand. Sir Paul Reeves and his staff stand ready to play a helpful role as a facilitator. As such, he is fully prepared to support the so-called Social Partner’s initiative that seeks to broker such discussions.

Political stability is essential for economic progress. Certainly, the general economic slowdown has hurt Guyana, but the crime wave and the political stalemate have served to undermine the investment climate and discourage investment. As a result, there has been only limited economic growth - 1.2 per cent in 2002.

But looking to the future, Guyana stands to benefit tremendously from its geographic location once the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas comes on lime in 2005. The Embassy’s economic programmes are designed to help improve the investment climate and prepare the country for the FTAA. Guyana, the only English-speaking country on the South American continent, is uniquely poised to be a gateway for trade between North America, the world’s largest economy, and Brazil, the world’s 10th largest economy. The road between Lethem on the Brazilian border and Georgetown has recently been upgraded and traffic flowing. It will undoubtedly become a significant commercial artery.

On security assistance, I mentioned earlier our ongoing cooperation with Guyana on narcotics trafficking. We have also in recent years, developed a strong military-to-military relationship with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). The Embassy’s Military Liaison Office has an active exchange and training programme with the GDF supported by the U.S. Southern Command. There is hardly a week goes by that GDF personnel are not in the U.S. some one kind of exchange or training or U.S. military personnel are in Guyana to conduct training. We have also been able to provide the GDF some key equipment to give the force greater mobility.

But, the most compelling problem for which Guyana needs help from its international friends is not crime or economic capacity building or even democratic institutions; it is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Caribbean is second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in the rate of infection and Guyana with a prevalence rate of 5-7 per cent of the population is second only to Haiti in the number of active cases. Left unchecked, AIDS will destroy a generation, decimate the workforce and further undermine the society’s institutional structure.

Without outside help, it will overwhelm Guyana’s health system. Fortunately, help is on the way. Last year, Guyana hosted a very successful U.S./Caribbean Conference on HIV/AIDS. All the CARICOM Health Ministers were there and our Secretary of Health and Human Services attended. Secretary Thompson helped energise the U.S. effort in the region. He announced the opening of a new HHS Office in Georgetown. I now have two officers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added to my staff. They will be helping build on the already active USAID Education and Prevention programme to add projects for surveillance, care and treatment. Since then, President Bush announced in his State of the Union Message a $15Bln HIV/AIDS assistance programme for Africa and the Caribbean. Guyana is to be one of the principal beneficiaries of that assistance.

Shortly after the President announced this programme, the Embassy supported a visit to Guyana by Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio and Senator Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island who were interested in seeing for themselves how Guyana was handling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I think they went away convinced of the need for assistance and of the country’s ability to manage significant new health assistance. We have good partners both in the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) community and in the government. There is full recognition of the urgent need for action and a good understanding of what needs to be done about it.

The USAID youth project, with eight NGOs, has been particularly successful over the past three years in raising consciousness about HIV/AIDS. One of the outstanding NGOs participating in that project has been the Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC). I have come to know their work especially well after they adopted my wife as their patron.

I share my wife’s enthusiasm about the youth of Guyana. In difficult times they have been a constant source of inspiration. I am particularly pleased that ‘Big Brother Big Sister’ sees in the VYC a potential partner. The threats to at risk children in Guyana are many: HIV/AIDS, drugs, crime, you name it. The special expertise of ‘Big Brother Big Sister’ is badly needed. I highly value the tremendous potential of Guyana’s youth, and it would be tragic indeed to waste any of the upcoming generation.

Conclusion
This is my first visit to the Guyanese expatriate community. It comes late in my tenure as Ambassador to Guyana (I will be leaving Georgetown his summer). I apologise for that. I will recommend to my successor that he do better. As I have noted in my comments, the American Guyanese community’s influence on events in Guyana has been profound. It has been a helpful influence.

Over the years, this great city has been not only the shining goal of intending immigrants, but Guyana’s sons and daughters already here have been the source of major assistance during times of adversity. I am a stubborn optimist about the future of Guyana. There are many reasons for my optimism. After having lived in the country for two years, I believe in the intelligence and determination of her people. I respect their energy, talent and resilience. Confirming those qualities, I have seen the impressive success of the Guyanese community in America.