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Suriname releases Guyanese cargo ship
THE Suriname military has released a Guyanese-owned cargo ship it seized Tuesday in the border Corentyne River between the two countries, the ship's owner said yesterday.

Mr. Kampta Persaud told the Guyana Chronicle the captain of the vessel who was detained at the Nickerie port on the Suriname side of the river was also released Wednesday night.

He said engine problems on the boat have been fixed and it will leave Nickerie today with a Suriname pilot on board.

The ship is to head back to the Skeldon sugar factory terminal on the Guyana side of the river where it was to pick up a load of sugar for export. It was chartered by the Guyana National Shipping Corporation to ferry the sugar from the Skeldon port to the Central Demerara Sugar Terminal in Port Georgetown.

Persaud said the Surinamese military imposed a fine on the captain of the ship but he was not immediately clear on the details of the charge against the Guyanese detained.

President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters Wednesday that this country dispatched a "strong note verbal to the Surinamese authorities saying how concerned we are about this latest aggressive act and...that we will take all steps necessary to protect Guyanese interests."

Responding to reports out of Suriname that the captain and crew were being held as illegal immigrants, Mr. Jagdeo said this was puzzling since the men were taken from the ship and escorted to Suriname.

He also said that Guyana does not recognise a Suriname claim that a pilot from that country must be on board a ship using the river.

He said the imposition of a fine by the Suriname authorities on the Guyanese detained on the cargo ship "is not good enough for my government" because the Corentyne has the characteristics of a border river, including full user rights and access by both countries.

The United Nations ruled in favour of Guyana last year to set a border in a century-old dispute that included an oil basin off the northeast coast of South America.

The Guyana accusation recalled how Surinamese gunboats in June 2000 expelled Canada's CGX Energy Inc from an offshore oil concession in disputed waters, prompting a freeze on exploration.

Oil activity has resumed in recent weeks in Guyana due to last year's ruling by the UN International Law of the Sea tribunal.

President Jagdeo argued that although sovereignty over the Corentyne River has not been settled, it has the characteristics of a border river, including full user rights and access by both countries.

He said the UN tribunal in its ruling about a year ago giving Guyana rights over almost all the offshore territory also found that the eviction of the CGX rig by Suriname was an act of aggression "and that seems to be a pattern with the Surinamese authorities".

The President said Guyana sought the route of international law after that incident and it was vindicated but its response may not always be the same in the face of the pattern of aggression by the former Dutch colony.

He said after a similar incident about a month ago and the non-response from Suriname to Guyana's complaint, "I thought it necessary that we go beyond just seeking to make contact with the Head of State of that country (and) we (Tuesday) sent off a strong note verbal to the Surinamese authorities saying how concerned we are about this latest aggressive act and secondly that we will take all steps necessary to protect Guyanese interests."

"We have made it clear that border rivers have certain characteristics – either the sovereignty of the river is shared based on the median line...or countries that are contiguous to each other and have a river between them should both share full user rights of the river", he said.

President Jagdeo calls for an agri sector that can survive and prosper
By Clifford Stanley

President Jagdeo flanked by Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkelt and Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has called for the establishment of an agricultural business sector that can prosper within the context of today's challenges of climate change and global financial crises.

"The peasant type agriculture that we have done for a long time has served its purpose. It has kept many of our people out of poverty. But the challenges of today are numerous. We have to deal with the effects of the global financial crisis. We have to deal with the effects of climate change which are already upon us. So we want to not only ensure food security, but to move on to higher levels of production and productivity; towards an agricultural sector that is totally competitive; that can survive and prosper," he said.

He stressed that the global financial crises and the effects of climate change will have to be taken into consideration in planning for moving agriculture towards higher levels of production and productivity.

"There is no way that Guyana will not be affected by the catastrophe that is taking place in the world financial markets; nor the very real adverse effects of climate change which are already occurring, It is a big task ahead of us but we have to step up to the challenges; to overcome these obstacles and put Guyana among the high level producers of the world," he said.

The President made this call in his feature address at the dedication of the Guyana Office of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Brickdam yesterday afternoon.

The dedication ceremony was part of a programme by the Ministry of Agriculture to mark World Food Day observed around the world on October 16 each year.

The FAO Office is located in the Agriculture Ministry Complex at 18 Brickdam, and the keys were formally handed over to FAO representative to Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Guyana, Mrs. Florita Kentish, by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.

In his address President Jagdeo stressed that the volatile context of financial crises and climate change would have to be factorised in planning for the desired commercial agriculture sector.

He noted that many local planners had a tendency to be mundane; to follow past trends, to ignore the changes occurring within their environment.

He stressed, "Given these challenges, we have to be to be creative; we have to be imaginative; we have to think outside the box in our planning process because if we don't, we will find at some point in time that we create wonderful elaborate plans that look good on paper but they are not implementable or are not relevant in the context and the circumstances".

President Jagdeo thanked Director General of the FAO Dr Jacques Diouf for the establishment of the Office in Guyana.

He said that he was confident that the staffers will be of great assistance to the agriculture sector in the retooling and upgrading of its operations given the changes taking place in the international arena and the environment.

Guyana is well positioned to benefit from the opportunities that exist within the challenges that the world is faced with to provide food. Some developed countries boast that they are food secure; having finance is not considered food security, but having the ability to ensure the citizens of a country have an opportunity to access affordable food is.

Food revolution is the next big thing and Guyana is well geared for the challenges that lie ahead.

On one of my visit to guyana I ran into this GDF cornel at a rum shop and after I bought him a few guniness[his prefer drink] I ask him how they could let those little suriname boys kick them out of there own territory like that. You should hear his boasting that at the time they didnt had any gun boat to match the fire power and how prepear they are with the new 5 gunboats the Jagdeo and company bought and how they would send that old rusty suriname gun boat to the bottom the next time around. By now I thought they [GDF] would put the gun boats in action..or maybe they figure out the Surinamese gun boats could return fire unlike the Guyanese civilians doors they are use to kick down with no resistance....

Ah kep tellin Al Yu Dat BIG Man is the Caribbean's GREATEST. He gun end up saving the rest of the Caribbean from Hungrybelly(Starvation)'
Big Up to the Caribbean's BEST Leader!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Nehru:
Ah kep tellin Al Yu Dat BIG Man is the Caribbean's GREATEST. He gun end up saving the rest of the Caribbean from Hungrybelly(Starvation)'
Big Up to the Caribbean's BEST Leader!!!!

Sorry Nehru while Guyana is PLANNING to increase food production the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica already have ample food to sell to other parts of the Caribbean. CHEAPER too. So let Guyana leave Caricom and the protection offered by the CET.

By the way Guyana's biggest South American brothers (Brazil, and Argentina) are both huge fod exporters. I wonder what it is that they can buy from Guyana? Their rice needs seem alreday well satisfied from other sources which I bet are cheaper with more relaible transportation that that from Guyana.

quote:

Originally posted by Nehru:
Ah kep tellin Al Yu Dat BIG Man is the Caribbean's GREATEST. He gun end up saving the rest of the Caribbean from Hungrybelly(Starvation)'
Big Up to the Caribbean's BEST Leader!!!!

Pavi Bhai.

Why do I get the impression that you and SJ4321 are both competing to see who can better kiss Baby Kong's derriere?

Common Pavi Bhai, you should know that these "Grow more food" utterings are just empty slogans. It takes more than just empty rhetoric to transform GY's agriculture sector - which by the way is in a depressing state. Sugar in crisis; rice no profitable markets; irrigation schemes clogged up; banks not issuing loans to farmers; limited facilities for export; fragile sea defenses etc.

Common Pavi, you have more exposure compared to the average semi-illiterates who reside in GY.

this lil boy jagdeo telling the people to grow more food when he can't even find market for the current food they grow now. look how the jamaicans make an ass out of indian guyanese farmers who got rice stockpile at the bond with the rats are currently eating.

quote:

Originally posted by Benford:
this lil boy jagdeo telling the people to grow more food when he can't even find market for the current food they grow now. look how the jamaicans make an ass out of indian guyanese farmers who got rice stockpile at the bond with the rats are currently eating.

Mr Voodoo economics, you have to start producing, get the supples going, take to the open market, then get to the supply agreement. There is no magic bullet or quick fixes, but what would you know. You cannot sign supply agreements then figure out where the supplies will come from. Typical cheerleader, stay perched on the fence there, monkey brain.

quote:

Originally posted by baseman:
Mr Voodoo economics, you have to start producing, get the supples going, take to the open market, then get to the supply agreement. There is no magic bullet or quick fixes, but what would you know. You cannot sign supply agreements then figure out where the supplies will come from. Typical cheerleader, stay perched on the fence there, monkey brain.

hogwash, the same way jagdeo let all those investors lose money in the world cup after they build big hotel and b&b at great expense just to see them remain vacant during and after the world cup. Zoom hotel up for sale, buddies run bankrupt and can't pay back the government, pegasus up for sale. Now this rat for a president asking farmers to invest only to have their produce rot. You and the ppp are in a dream world "build it and they will come", from the field of dreams.