The vessel, with seven Officers and 33 Ratings under the command of Lieutenant Commander Floyd Levi, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow in Barbados from where the crew members will commence training with their Caribbean counterparts, a press release from the Army said.

This is the second time the `GDFS Essequibo' will be participating in Tradewinds exercises since its acquisition some two years ago.

According to Lt Commander Levi, the GDF Coast Guard contingent will be focusing on networking with all participating Coast Guard unit within the Caribbean as well as those units from the American and British forces.

Additionally, the GDF Coast Guard will be engaged in the conduct of Maritime Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue Operations during the exercise, which is scheduled to conclude on Friday, May 23.

Meanwhile, the Land Forces Phase of this year's Tradewinds Exercise has been cancelled, the Army announced.

It said this cancellation is as a result of the U.S. Armed Forces' inability to provide logistics support.

In the past, the U.S. Armed Forces, through its Southern Command, has been in the forefront in rendering training, financial and logistics support to the Caribbean Forces that participated in Tradewinds Exercises, it noted.

Tradewinds is an annual exercise involving troops and security personnel from the seven-nation Regional Security System (RSS) grouping and other invited armies.

The nations that comprise the RSS grouping are: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia.

Troops from the U.S., the UK and some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries outside the RSS grouping also participate in Tradewinds Exercises.

The Regional Security System was born out of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the seven-member states to provide mutual support to each other.