Major national security strategy development seminar for Guyana
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo will Wednesday declare open a major three-day national security strategy development seminar. Entitled `Guyana: Developing a Sustainable National Security Strategy', the forum is sponsored jointly by the Centre for Hemispheric Studies (CHDS), the U.S. Embassy, the United States Southern Command and the Government of Guyana. It will be at Le Meridien, Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown. The seminar will be headed by an organisational committee composed of the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Ronald Gajraj (Chairman); Brigadier General Michael Atherley, General Staff, Guyana Defence Force; Mr David Granger, Editor, Guyana Review; Mr Alan Munroe, People's National Congress Central Executive member and Deputy Commissioner of Police Henry Chester. More than 70 high-level members of the government, opposition political parties, academia, media, civic leaders and security force members from throughout Guyana have been invited to participate. The United States Embassy said the seminar will be uniquely formatted, containing a mix of national security presentations and small working groups. Each of the six working groups will develop ideas and solutions to the problem sets presented, it said. President Jagdeo at a press conference last week said the strategic look at the defence strategy came out of an engagement that the Guyana Defence Force Chief-of-Staff had with the United States and at the level of the Secretary to the Defence Board. The President said that following discussions at the Defence Board level, it is the preferred view to focus on a small professional army and that there must be a role for the military in support of the law enforcement agencies. He indicated, though, that that role has to be defined and has to fall within the confines of the Defence Act. "What role the military will play in the battle against narcotics would have to be defined and discussed...what kinds of resources would be necessary to basically give effect to the new strategy...and what kinds of help Guyana can get from the Americas...and the resource area," will also be discussed at the conference, he said. Asked about the government's frontier policy with respect to capital for the GDF, the Commander-in-Chief stated that the policy is not being neglected and has not been changed, adding that Guyana's strongest weapon has been the diplomatic weapon. At this point in time, more is spent on the GDF than was ever spent in any time in the history of Guyana although the recurring budget has been growing faster than the capital budget, he said. "That is why we are seeking help from other friendly countries to bolster our capital stock...the U.S. has already promised some equipment, especially for the marine section and we'll be seeking support from other friendly countries," Mr Jagdeo said. CHDS is a product of the Defence Ministerial of the Americas process that began in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1995. There, and in consultations with civilian and military leaders around the region, it was noted that effective civilian leadership in defence and security matters requires personnel well versed in the defence policy process and familiar with the defence establishment and military affairs. The centre's doors were opened the year after the second Defence Ministerial of the Americas which was held in Bariloche, Argentina in 1996. The centre's mission is to develop academic programmes for educating primarily civilians in planning and management of defence and security; for familiarising civilians with the military profession and military affairs; and for studying the defence policy-making process in general. Additionally, the CHDS is charged to promote civilian-military collaboration on defence matters and to encourage national, regional, and international dialogue regarding defence themes. To accomplish this, the centre conducts a variety of courses in the United States and holds seminars and conferences in the U.S. and abroad. The centre's goal is to identify the important questions that need to be answered in organising, managing, and exercising oversight of the defence sector and its activities, and to share expertise in these areas with civilian and military leaders, members of the academic community, the media and non-governmental organisations using a comparative approach. Its faculty is composed of civilians and military members from the U.S. and other countries in the Americas and it is part of the National Defence University, based in Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. 
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