President David Granger extended best wishes to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on her 90th birthday, even as he recommitted to deepening the fertile relations shared by Guyana and the United Kingdom, at a reception held at the residence of the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn.
The President, accompanied by First Lady Sandra Granger; High Commissioner Quinn and his wife, Wendy Quinn; along with Government functionaries and other dignitaries attended the event to mark the Queen’s milestone anniversary.
President Granger recounted that the majority of citizens of Guyana living today know of only one British sovereign; one who has spent almost her entire adult life in service to her country and the Commonwealth. This, he said, undeniably, is a remarkable achievement.
The Head of State noted that Queen Elizabeth II has reigned with grace for more than 60 years and Guyana is gratified by the quality of cordial relations with Britain.
“We thank Britain for its sustained support for Guyana’s development efforts and more recently, for its receptiveness to our request to re-engage with security sector reform,” President Granger said.
The President also said that the Government and the people of Guyana are reassured by the reaffirmation of the United Kingdom’s support for Guyana’s position on the attempts by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to overturn the previously settled borders.
Security, he said, has been pivotal to ensuring Guyana’s independence over the last 50 years, even though the emergence of transnational threats such as narcotics-trafficking, trafficking in persons and terrorism requires the country to rely on cooperation with partners in the international community.
Meanwhile, High Commissioner Quinn said that 2016 has indeed been a remarkable year for the two countries as they can boast of quite a number of accomplishments in just fewer than six months.
“This year has been a year of many firsts for the Guyana-United Kingdom relations. In April, we saw the first visit by the naval ship since 2001; in May we saw the visit by the Minister from the Commonwealth Office since 2002. I trust there will be many more firsts in both the coming months and the years. I think what that shows, is that the relationship between our two countries is in good shape and it is not just about the visits. There is much substance. We continue our work on security reform and combating organised crime through assistance provided by, for example, the UK’s crime agency” Quinn said.
The event was also attended by Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque along with Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps and the Private Sector.
That’s great. Would also be wonderful if the President and some of his ministers can visit the Guyanese living in the UK and integrate with us too.
Most of the times you are only reading about visits to Canada and USA and meeting the Guyanese there.