Georgetown, GINA, January 29, 2004

A special plea for special and differential treatment was put forward by Guyana, at the recent Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico.
During a post-Mexico interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rudy Insanally said though Guyana was not heavily represented at the recent meeting, there was ample participation on several vital issues.
“We had the opportunity of participating fully in the debates which centred around economic growth and equity, social development and democratic governance,” stated Mr. Insanally.
He pointed out that in its participation in discussions on economic growth and equity, Guyana acknowledged the inherent importance of progress in this area as an essential element of poverty reduction, in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).
Drawing from the economic recovery experienced in Guyana during the 1990’s, Minister Insanally said Guyana also seized the opportunity to put forward its request for special and differential treatment and a Regional Development Fund, within the context of the Free Trade Association of the Americas.
The Foreign Minister noted that the hemisphere is as strong as its “weakest link,” since by comparison, some countries in the Caribbean have limited economic options, which called for a special case drawn up at the Monterrey Summit.
While the Summit of the Americas is the interim caucus to next year’s meeting slated for Argentina, the Mexico Meeting served as a platform for dialogue among some fourteen new leaders of the hemisphere to discuss current and evolving events of significance to the Region.
At the Mexico meeting, Minister Insanally said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was well represented. He added that leaders discussed the outcomes established at last years’ meeting in Quebec, Canada.
At that meeting, a concerted approach was taken by leaders to tackle poverty at the domestic level, in keeping with the MDG’s to harness poverty by 2015. To this end, Minister Insanally noted that leaders at the Monterrey Summit also examined concrete projects aimed at poverty reduction.
The OAS is managing a number of projects in these various areas.
“The promotion of democratic governance and the reinforcement of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which was put to the test in Peru and Venezuela formed part of the Mexico discussion,” added Minister Insanally.
Overall, he rated Guyana’s participation in the Mexico Summit as successful, and assured that leaders will follow up the unifying approaches discussed.