Commonwealth envoy due here in continuing dialogue mission
Stabroek News
May 19, 2003
The Commonwealth Secretary-General's envoy, Sir Paul Reeves, is due to return to Guyana today to continue his efforts to assist in the full functioning of the parliament and to returning Guyana to some form of political normality.
Chuks Ihekaibeya, the contact person from the Commonwealth Secretariat in Guyana, told Stabroek News that during his visit Sir Paul would be continuing his discussions with President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin. Sir Paul contacted the two leaders by phone to congratulate them on the signing of the May 6 communiqué that resolved the political impasse.
Sir Paul will be accompanied by Judith Pestaina, a senior adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat and Albert Marimar, a senior programme officer.
Sir Paul, according to Ihekaibeya, would also be meeting with representatives of the resident diplomatic and donor communities as well as a number of civil society organisations. These would include the parliamentary political parties and the Social Partners grouping which consists of the Guyana Bar Association, the Trades Union Congress and the Private Sector Commission.
Ihekaibeya said the Commonwealth Secretariat welcomed the recent developments and hoped that the momentum generated by the communiqué would be continued.
Sir Paul's mandate derives from a request to the Commonwealth Secretary-General by the Guyana government during the July meeting of the CARICOM Heads in Georgetown for his assistance in bringing about a resumption in the dialogue between President Jagdeo, and the late PNCR Leader Desmond Hoyte. The Secretary-General agreed and Sir Paul was tasked with assisting in bringing about the resumption of the dialogue, which had been suspended by Hoyte because of his party's dissatisfaction with the implementation of the dialogue decisions and the agreed parliamentary reforms. He first visited Guyana at the end of August and since then has made a number of trips here, the last of which was in February.
