Russia has restated its interest in providing debt relief to Guyana for the remaining portion owed by government under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HPIC) Agreement.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett
In an invited comment, Russian Charge d’Affaires to Guyana, Dr Sergey Tarasov, disclosed that the debt amounts to US$227,000. He confirmed that the Russian government is finalising the technical aspect of the promised debt write-off to Guyana. Dr Tarasov told Guyana Times International that once the transaction is completed, the remaining debt will be converted to be used on social projects locally.
He pointed out that Russia has already written off 99.8 per cent of Guyana’s debt, and so it is just a matter of writing off the country’s debt burden in its entirety.
“Russia has already written-off a huge amount of Guyana’s debt, and so it’s just the remaining portion, which is not a significant sum really. So Russia has no problem with that; it’s just the technical aspect that has to be finalized,” Dr Tarasov stated.
Earlier this year, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett revealed that the Russian government had signalled an interest in granting Guyana debt relief. Minister Rodrigues said then that Russia and Guyana have enjoyed diplomatic relations for the past 40 years. Guyana, in August 2010, decided to abolish the visa requirements for Russian nationals travelling to Guyana.
The foreign affairs minister expressed hope that the countries will continue to share mutual engagements that would benefit both states.
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