Guyana and Saudi Arabia to establish joint commission

President David Granger (L) with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

By Ray Chickrie Caribbean News Now contributor

GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- Following the recent visit of Guyana's President David Granger to Saudi Arabia to attend the Arab-South American Summit (ASPA), Guyana will initiate cooperation with several Arab nations, mainly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, including a joint commission to foster closer ties
Engagements at the summit with Gulf states has given new impetus to put in place mechanisms to expand ties with these countries, according to the foreign minister of Guyana, Carl Greenidge, who accompanied Granger to Riyadh. The new government in Guyana has an advantage of developing new ties with these countries after decades of neglect, delays and Islamophobia by the previous administration in Georgetown.

However, the new administration in Georgetown also has elements of Islamophobia that could impede future ties with the Arab Gulf, and Granger will have to control these elements if his government is serious in attracting Arab investments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

One diplomat familiar with many of the political players in Guyana, remarked, "Guyana has much to gain from these associations" and urged the current government to be a more active participant in ASPA and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Guyana has been a member of the OIC since 1998.

However, what concerns the diplomat, which he referred to as a "problem”, is "Islamophobia at high level in Guyana and some of those people still think the OIC is a religious organisation”. But with a new government in office, and one that has had strong ties with the Arab and Islamic world, relationships can improve and expand with ASPA and the OIC.

Granger and Greenidge may be less concerned, since they are products of Guyana's Peoples National Congress (PNC) party, which has had historical ties with the Arab and Islamic East. Moreover, Guyana now needs the OIC and the Commonwealth more than before because it is looking for global solidarity against threats from neighbouring Venezuela.

In the Commonwealth, of which Guyana is a member, many countries such as Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Cameroon, Brunei, Malaysia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Maldives are from the Islamic bloc. Kenya, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and South Africa have also requested OIC membership.

Granger will soon hold bilateral talks with the leaders of some of these countries when he travels to Malta to attend the Commonwealth heads of government summit.
In a Guyana News Agency (GINA) release, Greenidge, said, “The engagements at the summit were critical to Guyana’s exploration of the means to actualise the prospects and promise of collaboration with countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar."

Greenidge added, “Discussions on those fronts were quite satisfactory in the sense that the meetings dealt with cooperation on projects that we started, and those where we have outstanding problems between the two sides that need addressing, and they addressed issues over which we can cooperate.”
Another former diplomat, Guyana’s former ambassador to Kuwait and Qatar, Dr Odeen Ishmael, said that ties between Guyana and these countries are strong politically, but not economically.

"Guyana is held in high esteem for its position on Palestine," he remarked.
According to Ishmael, Guyana has already tapped "resources from the Kuwait Fund and had already put in place arrangements for a diplomatic trade office in Dubai.” Guyana is now waiting formal approval from the UAE government to have this office up and running.

Officials from the UAE and Emirates Airlines travelled to Guyana in 2014 to work on an open skies agreement between the two countries. Emirates Airlines wants to make a connection through Guyana. Ishmael, who is still regularly in touch with OIC officials, said that the UAE is still interested in signing an air agreement with Guyana.
Guyana and Saudi Arabia are looking to now establish a joint commission which will meet periodically to foster closer ties, according to Greenidge. He said that Guyana and these Gulf states agree to have periodic meetings in an effort to "follow-up, in order to identify areas where they can deepen cooperation and accelerate the processes in areas that have been slower than anticipated," according to GINA.

He said, “The agreement was to ensure that the joint commission sits and revisits these areas, with a new mandate given that on our side there is a new government in place.”
Guyana may soon become an oil producer after a major offshore oil and gas discovery, and Georgetown is keen to attract investments from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, some of the world major oil and gas producers and exporters

The new government of Guyana said that it “welcomes the Arabs’ positive role in ensuring a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Guyana."
Granger himself met King Salman of Saudi Arabia and discussed cooperation between the two countries, as well as several broader issues, including peace and other bilateral engagements, according to GINA.
Guyana and Saudi Arabia established ties in 2012. Besides the ASPA forum, Guyana is a member of the OIC, which also links Guyana to some very wealthy oil and gas producers like Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Turkmenistan, who are also members of the OIC.

Guyana maintains an embassy in Kuwait City, which is the only diplomatic mission of Guyana in the region. The government of Guyana is currently finalizing the choice of an ambassador to Kuwait, one who will play a pivotal role in fostering closer ties with Persian Gulf States.