Georgetown : Russian Ambassador to Guyana, H.E. Nikolay Smirnov, today paid a courtesy call on the newly appointed Second Vice President and Public Security Minister, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan at the Ministry of Public Security, Brickdam, Georgetown.
During this meeting, which was described by the Minister as extremely fruitful, the two officials discussed a number of areas of mutual interest that could see possible collaboration between the two countries.
According to the Minister, among several issues discussed were training and capacity building for the officers in the Guyana Police Force (GPF). He said he was brought up-to-date with the bilateral relation shared between the two countries at the level of the ministry.
A general framework agreement is being fine-tuned as a final draft is to be taken to Cabinet to be signed off. This agreement, according to Minister Ramjattan, will see “the specifics that we are going to be entering into; for example, if there is need for an extradition treaty, control of drugs, illicit drugs, or mutual assistance in crime, what agreements and specific assistance we will get will arise out of that general agreement.”
Further, he added that he was also made aware of several training opportunities that are available and open to Guyana in Russia, through the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Smirnov expressed gratitude to the Minister for meeting with him, pointing out that the meeting was very useful to both countries.
He added that in 2013, five policemen benefited from training in Russia and four others have been selected for the 2015 training session.
This training is expected to last for a maximum of three months. These officers were already identified under the previous administration. When asked if the names will be reviewed, the new Security Minister said that he does not have any objection to them.
In February 2012, a bilateral agreement between Guyana and Russia was signed, dealing with cooperation and anti -drugs and anti-narcotics. In regard to this, the Ambassador pointed out that there is need for improvement, thus this was also a part of the discussions held.
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