THE Minister of Defence of Brazil, Ambassador Celso Amorim, accompanied by representatives from the Brazilian Armed Force, paid an official visit to Guyana earlier this week, when he paid a courtesy call on President Donald Ramotar. He also met with Prime

Minister, Samuel Hinds and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
A working meeting was held between Dr. Roger Luncheon, Secretary to the Defence Board of Guyana and Minister Amorim at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two sides reiterated their desire to intensify bilateral defence co-operation with a view to promoting mutual trust and ensuring that the principle of peaceful solutions to controversies continue to prevail in the relations between South American States.
They reviewed the existing programme of co-operation between Guyana and Brazil in the area of defence and agreed to the implementation of a number of measures aimed at expanding and strengthening collaboration, not only at the bilateral but also at the regional level, within the context of existing initiatives of the Union of South American Nations.
In this regard they agreed to adopt the following decisions:

i. To create a Guyana/Brazil Bilateral Defence Working Group (BDWG), in order to provide oversight and follow-up to the defence agenda between Guyana and Brazil, through annual meetings of Joint Chiefs-of-Staff level or their equivalent, and three sub-groups dedicated to issues relating to the Army, Navy and Air Force;

ii. To increase co-operation in the area of military training and education at Brazilian military institutions, through the provision of additional offers to military personnel from Guyana;

iii. To promote the co-ordination of military operations in their respective border areas, in order to ensure more effective results and to enhance the integration and stability of the respective communities;

iv. To intensify collaboration in the area of defence procurement through the exchange of information and expertise;

v.  To promote collaboration with civil society through the development of joint projects in the border areas aimed at the delivery of services to those communities;

vi. To commence co-operation in the area of geo technology applied to defence and security, through the training of officials from Guyana at the SIVAM (Brazilian Amazon Surveillance Integrated System) facility in Manaus, Brazil.

vii. To send a military mission from Brazil to prepare an assesment of technical expertise that can be provided to advise and/or, work within the Guyana Defence

Force to increase expertise in deficient areas.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Minister Celso Amorim thanked the Secretary to the Defence Board of Guyana, Dr. Roger Luncheon, for the kind hospitality offered to him and the Brazilian delegation and extended an invitation to him to visit Brazil at a mutually convenient date.