Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is to make a “historic” state visit to the oil-rich Caribbean nation of Guyana this week when the two countries are expected to sign energy and defense agreements.
Modi’s visit to the country from today to Thursday would be the first from an Indian prime minister since Indira Gandhi’s in 1968, two years after Guyana gained independence from the UK.
He is expected to have bilateral discussions with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and address a special sitting of the country’s 65-seat parliament.
Photo: AFP
Guyanese Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud has described the visit as a significant milestone in the relations between two of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Guyana has been experiencing “extraordinary economic growth” of more than 40 percent in the last three years owing to its oil boom, the World Bank said.
The country has become a magnet for global trade and investment interests, recently attracting a visit from Canada’s top commercial and development entities to explore investment opportunities.
Helped by their strong historical and cultural ties, India and Guyana said they are looking forward to mutually beneficial agreements.
Modi would also meet other leaders from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), an intergovernmental organization of 15 Caribbean nations, including Guyana, at a CARICOM-India summit on Thursday, which he would co-chair with Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
India’s aims for the summit probably include improving its global foreign policy profile and tapping into the region’s burgeoning energy complex, said Scott MacDonald, an economist and Caribbean Policy Consortium fellow.
“Guyana is climbing the ranks as an oil province. It will continue to grow for both oil and natural gas and, let’s face it, India faces a deficit in terms of its ability to generate power. It needs imported energy,” he said.
Nearly 40 percent of Guyana’s population is of East Indian origin. Many still follow the cultural and religious practices of their ancestors who were shipped to Guyana From 1838 to 1917 as indentured laborers to plug the labor gap on plantations after the abolition of slavery.
During his visit, Modi would address the Indian community and Indian diaspora and take part in a floral tribute at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Guyana’s Georgetown, which was installed in 1969 during the Mahatma Gandhi centenary celebrations.
He would also visit the Indian Arrival Monument, which commemorates the arrival of the first ship carrying Indian indentured laborers to the Caribbean.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
DEMONSTRATIONS: A protester said although she would normally sit back and wait for the next election, she cannot do it this time, adding that ‘we’ve lost too much already’ Thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the US for a second major round of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump and his hard-line policies. In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans such as: “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.” Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting: “No ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” In Washington, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process. The
RSS