Above: Guyana President Donald Ramotar with Secretary of State of Roraima Eduardo Oestreicher (left) and Guyana’s Consulate General in Brazil, Leila King

By the Caribbean Journal staff

It is incumbent on Guyana to take advantage of the country’s close proximity to Brazil, according to President Donald Ramotar.

Part of doing that involves developing the Lethem border region, Ramotar said, with the government planning to do so under the umbrella of a new Lethem Authority.

“[Lethem Authority] will be a national authority comprising people here in Rupununi and also in Georgetown, so that we can plan together and look to the future as we develop Lethem to be one of the major centres of Guyana,” he said before the opening of the Rupununi Rodeo.

Ramotar met Saturday with Lethem Chamber of Commerce President Roger King to talk about the government’s development plan for the region and the progress of the Linden-Lethem Road, which will link the two countries with a paved highway.

In January, Guyana completed a feasibility study for the Linden to Lethem Road, once described by former Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva as “an expansion of the prospects for development between Guyana and the entire Northern Region of Brazil.”

The President also met Saturday with Eduardo Oestreicher, Secretary of State in Roraima, and Leila King, General Consul of the Guyana Consulate General in Brazil.