Georgetown, GINA, January 19, 2004

Guyana is moving to negotiate with the United States Government a bilateral agreement to deal with corruption.
President Bharrat Jagdeo made this disclosure during a television interview today.
At the recent summit of the Americas held in Monterrey, the United States pushed for strong language on terrorism and corruption. This was communicated to the Government of Guyana prior to the conference, and according to President Jagdeo; Guyana requested a bilateral agreement with the US on corruption, rather than waiting on the conclusion of a multilateral agreement.
“It’s not only terrorism that concerns us; poverty is also a concern to countries of our hemisphere and we should not await the multilateral agreement on corruption. I would like to move forward with the US to have a bilateral agreement which could be negotiated speedily to share information on illegal accounts that Guyanese may have in the US,” the President said.
He noted that there are instances of money laundering and other such corruption in which Guyanese living in the US are involved.
“We want to share information on corrupt Government officials and corrupt people in the private sector. Many people may get accounts based on tax evasion, money laundering,” the President said.
The request has not yet materialized. However, US Ambassador in Guyana Roland Bullen, is following up the issue and keeping him up to date on developments, the Head of State said.
Guyana has cordial relations with the US and receives assistance in various areas, including financial and policy wise.