Dr Ashni Singh
Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and Chinese Ambassador to Guyana Zhang Limin on Friday signed an economic and technical cooperation pact which would see Beijing providing US$ 4.93 million to finance projects to be agreed upon by both governments.
According to a release, the two representatives also signed an acceptance certificate for the procurement of a vehicular mobile container scanner valued at US$ 98,640 to be used by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the discharge of its official duties.
The People’s Republic of China, through the provision of economic and technical cooperation grants has supported a number of initiatives in areas such as health, trade, infrastructure, energy, mining, transport and communication, agriculture, sport and culture, among others.
Notable interventions
All of these have benefited the Guyanese populace, significantly. Some notable interventions are the acquisition of two new state-of-the-art ferries to ply the Parika/ Supenaam route, which reduces transport time, significantly; the delivery of laptops for the distribution to thousands of vulnerable families; the procurement of firefighting equipment to consolidate the efforts of the Guyana Fire Service; the medical brigade to offer specialist services to the citizens of Guyana; and sport coaches to assist in enhancing the sport sector.
This year, in August 2013, China extended a similar grant totalling RMB¥ 50,000,000 or US$ 8.17 million for developmental projects.
Guyana Zhang Limin
Moreover, to date, Guyana has benefited from concessional loan agreements totalling some US$ 200.96 million to fund projects such as the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Extension Project which will transform Guyana into an international travel hub through the provision of direct routes to a number of preferred destinations.
The e-government project, when completed, will improve the communication infrastructure within the country, and the GPL Infrastructure Development Project is expected to strengthen and improve the electricity network through the construction of new sub-stations and the upgrade of existing ones along the coastland where transmission lines and fibre-optic cables will be installed to link the substations.
While delivering his remarks, the Chinese ambassador stated that this was a second grant provided, this year, to the government and people of Guyana and, he explained that it represents the long historical friendship shared by both countries.
Ambassador Limin affirmed that he is confident this grant would be utilised to develop the social and economic sectors of the country from which benefits would be accrued to the people of Guyana. He also said that the vehicular mobile scanner for the GRA would help to improve the Customs administration.
In responding to the ambassadors remarks, Minister Singh reiterated the special relationship between the two countries. He stated that Guyana is proud to be the first Caribbean country to have established diplomatic relations with China and expressed his pleasure at the evolution and manifestation of the Chinese relationship with the region.
Minister Singh said China’s friendship with the Caribbean is important and has been reinforced with the visits of high-level Chinese officials to the region. He further added that, to date, Guyana has made good use of the resources provided by the government of China to implement a number of transformative projects.
