President sees better future as a united people
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has posited that Guyana will have a good future once Guyanese peoples are united as one. "If we are united as a people, the future is very good for Guyana. Our people can look forward to a bright prosperous future where we can focus on improving our education standards, better deliver health care and be able to produce jobs for our people. "But this can only happen if we operate as a united people," the Head of State said on `This Week with the President' Sunday. He foresees this country facing some challenges on the international front and said one such is the rapid move to conclude negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). President Jagdeo said the FTAA and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) system could present serious challenges for the trading regime and countries like Guyana, as well. "We have serious threats to our preferential markets and these would present serious difficulties to those sectors that export into those markets ... rice, sugar and rum, among others," he pointed out. "Until now, commodity prices have not recovered on the world market, with the exception of gold to some extent. This will continue to adversely affect some sectors," the President cautioned. President Jagdeo said he is pleased that the political situation in Guyana has shown signs of stabilising and expressed the hope that good sense would prevail so that differences can be resolved. Referring to the recent summit with the private sector, he said it was one attempt at creating an environment that would help stimulate capital flows. "Hopefully, when that happens, we will see a number of jobs being created and the economy resuming the growth path that it had in the past. Simultaneously, we are working at some measures like the youth conferences to make our existing programmes much more efficient," the President stated. He said he would like to see more efficient expenditure in the health sector and a similar re-assessment in education to determine whether there is value for the money expended. "Hopefully, we will see more jobs being created in the economy and whatever resources we are currently spending we will spend it more efficiently," Mr Jagdeo remarked. Recalling his statement that he would hold ministers to their promises and commitments, he said: "I believe that, if we cannot do something, then we should explain that to the people, rather than make promises that we cannot fulfil." He said that is why, in the Berbice encounters recently, they did not only focus on what was done but reasons why some things could not have been accomplished and people were "very sympathetic" "... they understood the constraints the Government face," Mr Jagdeo said.
|