President for official visit to Chile

President David Granger will make a State visit to Chile from today to Wednesday.

A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said that during the visit, the President will attend a meeting with President Michelle Bachelet at Palace Moneda and participate in the ceremony for the signing of two pacts between Guyana and Chile; the Open Skies Air Service Agreement and the Reciprocal Visa Abolition Agreement.

Granger will also deliver a lecture at the Andrés Bello Diplomatic Academy of Chile on ‘His vision and assessment as well as the strategic implications on his call for the Caribbean to be preserved as a zone of peace’. Observers say that the lecture will provide a further opportunity in the heart of South America for the

President to underline Venezuelan aggression against Guyana.

The Guyanese Head of State said, according to the release, that relations between Guyana and Chile and that South American nation and CARICOM [Caribbean Community] as a whole are cordial and strong. “Chile is a key member of UNASUR [The Union of South American Nations], CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States] and Mercosur and it only this year an embassy was opened in Georgetown. I would say the relations are cordial and strong and they are growing in strength now,” he said.

This trip follows President Bachelet’s visit to Guyana in July this year, where she held bilateral talks with President Granger and participated in the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.

“This is a step towards strengthening the bonds between Chile and the Caribbean too. Chile particularly has a large maritime zone and the Caribbean really is a maritime zone so we expect that there will be a good base for bilateral cooperation,” said Granger, who will assume Chairmanship of CARICOM in 2017.