Guyana Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo referred to Suriname’s Agriculture Minister as a “shady character” following a fishing licenses row between the two countries. Parmanand Sewdien is the Suriname official in question.
“… Suriname and some of the Ministers, especially the Minister of Agriculture, the one there. I do not have any faith in him. He’s a shady character. I need to say that, shady character, with what he did with the fishermen licenses,” Jagdeo said.
He was at the time responding to a question about whether a trade embargo has been imposed on exports of agricultural produce from Suriname to Guyana. Jagdeo said that while he is unaware of any such embargo, Guyana has phytosanitary standards to maintain.
According to the Surinamese publication, United News, Jagdeo stands accused of imposing the embargo on Suriname, by Chairman of the Association of Surinamese manufacturers, Wilgo Bilkerdijk.
“It is the VP of Guyana who has indicated that as long as those 150 permits are not issued, he will in fact curb those imports to Guyana,” Bilkerdijk is quoted as saying.
The government of Guyana in September 2022 had condemned the treatment of Guyanese fisherfolk by Suriname authorities and urged its Dutch-speaking neighbour to uphold a commitment it had made to issue fishing licenses to them.
In a strongly worded statement, the government had reminded that Suriname promised to grant 150 fishing licenses to Guyanese fisherfolks, building on a promise made to President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali in 2020. Nothing came to fruition and the Guyana government said Guyanese fisherfolk were being harassed by Suriname authorities.
Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha and Sewdien, his Suriname counterpart had held discussions on the matter. An agreement was supposed to be put in place by January last year, with Guyana already submitting the names of Guyanese fisherman since November 2021.
Both countries, having discovered oil and gas reserves offshore, have been in discussions to collaborate on projects in the sector, and had also agreed to build a bridge across the Corentyne River to form a seamless connection between the two countries. Guyana’s 2022 statement and Jagdeo’s recent comments indicate a souring of relations between the two countries.
Jagdeo’s recent comment was made at a press conference in his capacity as General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), in the lead-up to Guyana’s Local Government Elections in July.
