President George W. Bush is looking favourably at a request to send senior US government officials to Guyana to ascertain what assistance could be given in the areas of security and finance, says President Bharrat Jagdeo.

At a press conference yesterday to report on his breakfast meeting with Bush and three other Caribbean leaders last week in New York, Jagdeo said that he had brought up the issue of security in Guyana and the region.

He said he had proposed the establishment and sharing of immigration and other security-related information along with the co-ordination of monitoring systems between the US and Guyana, because of the increased convergence between drug trafficking and criminal activities in Guyana and the region.

He said his colleagues also spoke about new security- related issues.

Jagdeo also sought the support of the US Government for an early completion of the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) initiative. Many other countries had supported Guyana in the HIPC process, he said, and he would be working on having officials of the US Treasury Department come to Guyana. Bush was sympathetic to both concerns and stated that the US would do what it could to facilitate this, he said.

With regard to the HIPC Initiative, Jagdeo said he requested that officials of the US Treasury visit Guyana to do an on-the-ground assessment of the progress made in the economic and social spheres. He said the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who were both present, felt that something could be worked out in this regard.

As to how soon the US officials would visit Guyana, Jagdeo said that would be handled at the level of the US State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said Minister Rudy Insanally, was attending a foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington with the US government at the congressional level.

Jagdeo also expressed his gratitude to Bush for the direct support from the US government in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Jagdeo said that the meeting with Bush was promising with the US President showing sympathy for the difficult circumstances which many governments found themselves in. They invited him to visit the region and to meet with all the Heads of Government of CARICOM. He said Bush was non-committal about the invitation not saying whether he would come to the region or meet with the leaders in the region. The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Perry Christie offered his country as the venue for the meeting. Bush’s invitation to select leaders of Caricom had sparked concerns that the US was aiming to reward those who have backed its stance on the International Criminal Court.

Jagdeo explained that the Bahamas’ request for a US military post was in keeping with that country’s own national security considerations. He said it was not to fight a war or drug traffickers but to deal with the huge refugee problems that The Bahamas faced. The “boat people from Haiti were very costly on (The Bahamas) economic system.”

He also highlighted at the meeting the need for small and vulnerable economies, in coping with trade liberalisation to get special and differential treatment if they are to compete.

He said the leaders spoke at length about the need for this approach especially with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. He was hoping that the remarks by Bush would be translated into a more sympathetic US position when the US concludes its negotiations in the Free Trade of the Americas Areas (FTAA).

Concerning Cuba, he said that Bush spoke of his government’s concern in relation to human-rights violations on the island and the political situation there.

However, he said Caribbean leaders spoke of the huge support they were receiving from Cuba especially in the area of education and health. Christie mentioned that he had 100 students studying in Cuba and that a Bahamian can get a medical operation done for one-fifth or one-tenth of the cost in the US. He said there was no attempt by either side to sway opinion in relation to Cuba. Jagdeo noted that many Cuban-trained Guyanese doctors ended up in Miami.

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell offered to play a special role in promoting greater engagement between Cuba and the US.

On the issue of Haiti, he said both parties agreed to co-operate intensively to bring about peace, stability and development to the country. They recognised that the Haitian people were facing a humanitarian disaster and agreed that the pressure should not only be placed on the government to comply with agreements but also on the opposition parties.

The Caribbean leaders urged the US through its various agencies, especially USAID, to support those countries that were encountering economic difficulties. Asked whether Bush asked for troops to assist in peacekeeping in Iraq, Jagdeo said that was just speculation prior to the breakfast and no such request was made.

He said that Bush asked for nothing in return for the requests coming from Guyana and the Caribbean leaders. “He never requested anything. In fact he said that someone should visit... and see what help could be given to the region.”