THE Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Annual Officers’ Conference, the opening from which the media was barred, ended on a positive note, Cabinet Secretary and Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr. Roger Luncheon reported yesterday.

He said the forum discussed current issues which were ventilated in the speeches by the Commander-in-Chief, President Bharrat Jagdeo and Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best.

Those matters included the image and conduct of the military, heightening the Joint Services concept, Public Sector commercialisation by the military and the Joint Services support in Public Administration, Luncheon said at his weekly post Cabinet news briefing.

He said, in the end, there were “commitments to action the acceptable recommendations.”

Luncheon also said the Defence Board noted the ‘snafu’ surrounding the level of access by the media at the start and the “patent overreaction” of the Guyana Press Association (GPA).

The GPA had protested the media not being allowed to cover the opening ceremony even though invited to do so and called for a boycott of Government and GDF functions but, subsequently, withdrew the call and suggested talks with President Jagdeo and the Army.

Luncheon said the attempts to defuse the controversy are “appropriate and should contribute to better relationships with the Administration.”