Georgetown, GINA, June 25, 2008

Government is projecting that the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) X will see a larger number of persons gracing Guyana ‘s shores than was the case for Cricket World Cup (CWC) matches here in 2007.
This was the contention of Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo when he addressed the media during a press conference on a number of issues at the Office of the President today.
The President, alluding to the arson attempts at the National Cultural Centre recently and queries by the media as to whether it was true that according to websites, persons were calling for the event to be boycotted, said the arson act was despicable, but that in spite of this he is not bothered about websites or ‘blogsites’.
“All of these websites, the blogs basically who are calling for a boycott of CARIFESTA, I would not pay too much attention to them. You can create a blog site on any matter. Many people I’m sure do not pay attention to the character assassination and the unsubstantiated reports and utterings of blog sites because there’s no responsibility….no one forces you to be responsible there, people can do this in a relatively anonymous way so they can say anything,” he said.
President Jagdeo pointed to his recent visit to Toronto, Canada and noted that there was much interest there in the event.
“The Canadians are bringing down a team, I’ve seen a large interest in New York, they’re coming here. I saw in the newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago-they are going to spend over a US $1M to send their delegation down-a huge delegation of about 150 persons,” he asserted.
The Guyanese Leader also pointed to the interest shown in the event by other countries as well, adding that over 1,500 persons have registered to participate in the event as delegates.
“We expect many more to come and to participate and to enjoy the festivities so it could probably be bigger than World Cup Cricket in terms of foreigners being present in Guyana,” he contended.
In terms of security arrangements, the President posited that Guyana has already been putting together ‘solid security arrangements’ for the event and alluded to other major events which were smoothly hosted in the country.
“We have put together solid security arrangements for World Cup Cricket, for the RIO Group summit and for the hosting of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting. I don’t see any reason why we can’t put together solid security arrangements for CARIFESTA too,” he affirmed.
On this note, the President dismissed the persons spreading negativity about the event as ‘voices in the wilderness’. These, he said would not be making any impact on people’s attendance at the event.
CARIFESTA is being hosted in Guyana from August 22-31 and will see a range of cultural events and Caribbean countries showcasing their art and culture forms.