Guyana-Suriname meet to discuss cross-border crimes
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| Published on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 |
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- The authorities of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbours on Tuesday, opened bilateral talks in Georgetown, Guyana, to assess their progress in tacking trans-national crimes since the signing of the bilateral agreement “the New Nikerie” between the two nations in May 2008.
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| Guyana’s Home affairs Minister Clement Rohee |
The meeting is being spearheaded by the Home Affairs Minister of Guyana Clement Rohee and Minister of Justice and Police of Suriname Chandrikapersaud Santoki.
Rohee at the opening of the talks on Tuesday said the two countries must collaborate if the ever increasing cross border crime is to be addressed.
“Today’s re-engagement is tangible testimony of the strong commitment made by our two countries in combating crime in all its facets, whether it is in relation to the drug trade, the smuggling of goods, illegal trade in small arms, or the apprehension of those who flee the justice system in either of our states,” Rohee explained.
He also noted the two countries have to collaborate against the international threat of terrorism as many terrorist may want to seek refuge in the small developing states of the Caribbean.
Rohee added that, while Guyana has made all of its communities stronger when it comes to stemming crime, working with its regional and international partners is critical if the issue is to be tackled since “crime is beyond all borders”.
Meanwhile, the Surinamese Justice and Police Minister Chandrikapersaud Santokhi said the two countries have already made significant headway on anti-crime cooperation.
“We have a strong political willingness as two nations for a strong cooperation, we have joint fishing, we have joint strategy, we have a joint commitment to enhance the cooperation and security and nothing, no crime, no criminals and no other issue will divide us in this approach which is beneficial for our both nations and both communities,” Santokhi said.
Santokhi believes though that while the two countries will cooperate in their crime fight, each state is sovereign and should be able to deal uninterrupted when dealing with crimes committed by nationals of either country.
“We do have our responsibility and our own sovereignty as neighboring countries to take actions for our own people and own communities to eliminate the common threats and to increase the common security, we have no other choice,” Santokhi said.
The meeting will assess progress on tackling drugs and firearms trafficking and other cross-border crimes and new strategies that can be implemented.
It will also examine regularizing the back track route between the two countries and smuggling of vehicles.
The two ministers met in May 2008 and signed the new Nikerie agreement which address issues to tackle drug, human and small arms trafficking, smuggling of vehicles across the border and illegal crossing.
Santokhi said his government is moving to regularize the illegal crossing between Molson creek on the Guyana side and Nikerie on the Suriname side, an issue to be discussed at the meeting.
“We (Suriname) are moving to ensure that this crossing is regularized, because on a daily basis you have about 300 to 350 persons crossing there, so we are hoping to ensure that the small vessels that ply the route are licensed and persons crossing go through the immigration procedure, because on both sides we want to know who are entering and leaving our country.” Santokhi explained. | | | | Reads : 1136 | | | |
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