The Ministerial Advisory Council for Foreign Relations was yesterday formally launched as part of a two-day meeting at the Foreign Service Institute with the view of getting a wider consensus on Guyana’s foreign policy and to craft solutions to challenges that may arise.

In terms of the operation, the full council is expected to meet formally at least twice a year to resolve whatever tension exists and try to establish a modus vivendi that would properly harness and mobilize public support.

“On occasion, smaller groups may need to discuss more urgent issues... So the council, itself, would be a very flexible instrument,” Foreign Affairs Minister Rudy Insanally said yesterday.

Harold Sahadeo, Director, Foreign Service Institute, explained that the establishment of the council had been proposed some time ago, but the implementation gave way to “other priorities.”

“We witness both state and corporate institutions negotiating and conducting international business which has a long-lasting impact on every country’s growth and development. In recognition of this reality, this council will enjoy the benefit of the participation of some of Guyana’s leading foreign policy leaders, practitioners or thinkers.

They will be engaged over the course of the next two days in reflections, studies, discussions and clarification of topical foreign policy issues. Some of these problem areas may lie outside the ambit of the Foreign Service,” he said.

Among the attendees for the two-day meeting, are both locally and overseas-based members of the council, who have a “deep interest and experience in international affairs.” They are overseas-based Professor Walter Stewart, Senior Legal Advisor of the Guyana Mission to the United Nations; Prof Denis Benn, a Michael Manley Professor of Public Affairs/Public Policy; and Dr Havelock Brewster, Alternate Executive Director, IADB Washington, DC.

The ten locally-based members are Brigadier General Michael Atherly, Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force; Dr Mark Kirton, Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana (UG); UG lecturers Drs Daniel Kumar and Rishi Thakur; Rashleigh Jackson, Consultant; Sister Noel Menezes, of the Sisters of Mercy at Plaisance; attorneys-at-law Bryn Pollard, Duke Pollard and Dr Barton Scotland; and Dr David Singh, Training and Forest Operations Adviser of Iwokrama.

With funding from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the council is expected to deliberate on issues relating to the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana, sustainable development of the country’s natural resources, as well as the projection of Guyana’s image abroad.

According to Minister Insanally, such a forum is useful to Guyana’s diplomacy, since it has sought to pull together a body of diplomatic experience and expertise which constitutes a reservoir of knowledge from which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can draw in trying to find its way forward in the future.

“We in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do not pretend to have a monopoly on the ideas for our foreign policy. Foreign policy is now the business of everyone. Everyone goes about negotiating... we all have to be busy in the area,” the minister told the gathering.

He said one has to be conscious of the environment in which foreign policy must now be conducted and one cannot be oblivious to the reality of what is taking place in the world. As such, he urged, that there must be an adaptation of foreign policy to satisfy the new requirements.

“We have a new set of factors [such as] new threats to our security and stability. That is not to say that old threats have been displaced. The problems which we have with our borders, which hang like an albatross around our necks and seriously inhibit our economic development - how do we address them, what prospects do we have for a resolution?” the Minister asked.

Insanally stated that while it was envisaged that the council would deal with some of these issues, it could not operate in a vacuum and as such, outlines would be set for a revitalized Foreign Ministry.

“I hope that the Advisory Council will also serve as an ex-officio friend of the ministry. It will, through its deliberation, provide ideas, methodologies... It is anticipated that with the support of ideas, analyses and methodologies provided by the council, a more dynamic and forward-looking role will be created for the government and Guyana in regional and international affairs,” the minister said.

He added, that in practical terms, too, he hoped that the council would serve to mitigate the problems and shortcomings of the ministry, especially the skills’ drain, a situation which Insanally said would perhaps continue for some time to come.

“The council may recommend improvements to the existing procedural arrangements. We do not have a closed mind on what the council is and what it will do. We do want to get your ideas... we want to overcome the obstacles that have so long constrained us. I really believe that together we would be able to shape a foreign policy that would be relevant to our times and help Guyana to overcome the many constraints it now faces.”