Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 21, 2010 News
-to hold talks with President Ahmadinejad, business sector
By Ray Chickrie
Breaking new grounds in Guyana’s foreign relations and starting a new phase in Guyana/Iran ties, President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday arrived in Tehran, the Iranian capital for a three-day official visit.
The Guyanese leader wants to explore areas of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran “to get familiar with the capabilities and capacities of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and to renew ties with the Islamic world.
At the Imam Khomeini Airport to receive the Guyanese head of state was the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and members of the Iranian government. Jagdeo will hold bilateral talks with President Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran ‘s spiritual leader, among other senior officials and the business sector.
This is Jagdeo’s final leg of a three-nation tour of the Middle East . Prior to Iran, he visited Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is the first Guyanese head of state, and the first leader of a Caribbean country (Caricom) to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Both Iran and Guyana are ardent supporters of the Palestinian cause. Jagdeo and the political party to which he belongs, the PPP, are strong supporters of the Palestinian cause. Each year in Guyana they host “Palestine Day.’’
Georgetown has always been very critical and vocal in condemning the Israeli occupation. President Jagdeo urged US President Barack Obama to solve the Palestinian conflict and again reiterated the “injustices that the Palestinian people have endured.”
He said, “We can’t turn a blind eye to their suffering.”
Since 1975 Guyana has been a member of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people. Guyana, a former British colony and South America’s only English-speaking country with a vibrant Muslim community of about 12 percent and a member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), has forged strong ties with the Middle East since its independence from Britain in 1966.
This relationship dates back to the 1950s and 1960s under the leadership of two former presidents, Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham who had strong ties to Gamal Abdul Nasser, and admirers of Iranian nationalist leader, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh.
Relationships with Iran entered a new phase in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution. With the Islamic Republic severing ties with Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1979, relationship with Guyana improved.
According to Guyana ’s Ambassador to Venezuela , Dr. Odeen Ishmael, “ Iran on numerous occasions supported Guyana on many issues favourable to Georgetown at the United Nations, the OIC and Non Aligned Movement (NAM).”
Deeper ties developed with the Islamic World when Guyana in 1996 became a permanent observer in the OIC. In 1997, during the 8th Summit of the OIC in Teheran, Dr. Odeen Ishmael, Guyana ‘s former ambassador to Washington represented Guyana .
Guyana ‘s application for permanent membership in the OIC was accepted in 1998 and Guyana became the 56th member state of the OIC that year with strong Iranian support. In 2001 former President of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan met with the Iranian foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Velayati at the NAM Summit in Cartagena and extended to him an invitation to visit Guyana .
This was followed by several visits to Guyana by Iranian envoys. Iran then appointed a non-resident ambassador to Guyana . More recently, in 2009, President Jagdeo met with Iranian the Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.
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