Regional Security Agreement strengths safety, security of citizens - Foreign Secretary
President Irfaan Ali was recently given the ascension documents affirming the nation's alliance with the CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS).
The Head of State first signed the protocol in March 2022 at the 33rd Inter-sessional meeting of CARICOM Heads in Belize.
Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud highlighted that this agreement has strengthened the safety and security of all Guyanese citizens.
“The RSS, us being part of that, would be an added asset to our National Security System as it were and our law enforcement agencies in their ability to coordinate, to tap expertise, and to be in a better position to make all our citizens safer.”
The RSS was initially created as a collective response to security threats impacting the region's stability.
The first members were Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who agreed on “mutual assistance on request.”
St. Kitts and Nevis in 1983 later signed it, followed by Grenada in 1985. The RSS acquired juridical status in March 1996 by way of a Treaty signed in St. Georges, Grenada.
The regional body aims to ensure the stability and well-being of Member States through mutual cooperation in order to maximise regional security in preserving the social and economic development of citizens.
Guyana has in the past requested help from the RSS to address security matters, with the most recent being an investigation into alleged corrupt practices in the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
“I think that’s the ultimate goal, and it's part of how we can work and collaborate with our regional institutions. That is one such facility that the President, in his wisdom, has decided to be part of.”
