Above: US Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt and Guyana Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Guyana and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at preventing the smuggling of drugs through containers.

Guyana is the first Caribbean country to sign onto the so-called Container Control Programme, which was developed to help states protect their ports. (Suriname will sign the agreement on Wednesday).

The MOU will create a port control unit in Guyana. That unit is set to become operational Oct. 15, Guyana’s government said. It will be stationed at the John Fernandes wharf.

Guyana Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee called the signing a “significant venture.”

United States Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt said the trafficking of illicit drugs to sea ports represented a “significant threat to the economy.”

The United States and the Guyana Police Force are also signatories to the MoU.