President Droupadi Murmu today held a meeting with Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.

While welcoming Jagdeo to Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Murmu said that India attaches very high importance to its ties with Guyana. She noted that the trade between the two nations is on an upward trajectory, President’s Secretariat said in the press release. President Droupadi Murmu emphasised the need to further bolster bilateral trade between the two nations, according to the press release. She called the development partnership a “major pillar” of India-Guyana ties, according to the press release.

“The President noted that trade between India and Guyana is on an upward trajectory. In 2021-22, despite the pandemic the bilateral trade witnessed a growth of over 300 percent. She stressed on the need to further diversify the bilateral trade,” the President’s Secretariat said in the press release.

She expressed happiness to note that over 640 Guyanese government officials have been trained under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme so far. President Murmu expressed confidence that Bharrat Jagdeo’s visit to India will further deepen the historical bonds of friendship between the two nations.

India and Guyana are separated geographically, according to the press release. However, the two nations have many aspects in common, including their colonial past, predominantly agricultural and rural-based economies, and multicultural societies.

On Thursday, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar met his Guyana counterpart Bharrat Jagdeo and both leaders agreed to continue to work on strengthening the bilateral partnership in various sectors including petroleum and natural gas, agriculture, agro-processing, education and healthcare, according to an official statement.

The two leaders appreciated the close and cordial relations shared by India and Guyana based on strong people-to-people ties, economic linkages and commonalities of approach on multilateral issues.

“Hon’ble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar met H.E. Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of Guyana in New Delhi today. Both leaders acknowledged the age-old strong bilateral ties between the countries and reiterated their commitment to further strengthen India-Guyana relations,” tweeted the Vice President of India.

According to the release, both leaders agreed to continue to work on strengthening the bilateral partnership in various sectors including petroleum and natural gas, agriculture, agro-processing, education, healthcare, capacity building, ICT, renewable energy and climate change.