Guyana’s Minister for Public Works, Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill, will be on an official visit to India from 12-16 June 2022, for the launch ceremony of the Ocean going cargo-cum-passenger ferry vessel being built for Guyana by M/s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. as part of Government of India’s Line of Credit-cum-Grant project. 

The Ministerial delegation will also comprise of Mrs. Joan Edghill - spouse of the Hon. Minister who will actually launch the vessel into water, Ms. Rosalinda Rasul - Chairperson, Transport and Harbours Development Board, and Mr. Patric Thompson - Chief Transport Planning Officer, Ministry of Public Works. 

The delegation is slated to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday, 12 June 2022 and will depart New Delhi for Kolkata on Tuesday, 14 June 2022 to lead the launch ceremony. As per the programme, the delegation will be in New Delhi for 2 days during which Minister Edghill who is also the Guyanese Minister for Public Works, including Road and other infrastructure, Civil Aviation, Ports and Energy would be meeting Government of India senior Ministers: Hon’ble Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia - Minister of Civil Aviation, and Hon’ble Shri Raj Kumar Singh - Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy. 

Currently, five Lines of Credit from Government of India i.e. on road infrastructure (USD 50 million for the East Coast-East Bank road) and renewable energy (USD 10 million solar energy) installation are under process in Guyana along with the Ferry (USD 12.77 million), installation of drainage pumps (USD 4 million) and renovation of three hospitals (USD 18 million). The Minister will also visit an Ethanol Blending Facility for petroleum, belonging to the Oil Public Sector Enterprise Indian Oil Corporation which could be of importance to Guyana, since Guyana is a major sugarcane producing country and is very active in climate change mitigation efforts.

High commissioner of India to Guyana Dr KJ Srinivasa expressed hope that “India-Guyana bilateral cooperation are expected to receive another important boost with this visit, which closely follows on the heels of the recent visit of Hon’ble Hugh Hilton Todd - Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi followed by extensive bilateral engagements with Indian Prime Minister His Excellency Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Hon’ble Dr S Jaishankar and others. Multiple engagements in other sectors including healthcare, education, financial sector are also in the works”.

 

10th June, 2022