President Irfaan Ali and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed a joint declaration on training, exercises and air monitoring.
WASHINGTON – Guyana and the United States signed an agreement Wednesday that Georgetown says builds on a decades-long partnership and is critical to defending the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Irfaan Ali and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, as the Pentagon now styles the post, signed the Joint Declaration for an Enhanced Defense Partnership at the Pentagon.
Under the declaration, the US Department of War will provide sustained defense expertise, multidomain training and combined exercises with the Guyana Defence Force. The cooperation will also strengthen Guyana’s air-domain awareness, improving its ability to monitor, deter and respond to threats in and around its territory.
A joint statement said the declaration aligns the two countries in confronting what it called narco-terrorist organizations and narcotrafficking. It builds on both countries’ roles in the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition and the Shield of the Americas, the statement said, and sends a message that Guyana and its partners are ready to deter malign state and non-state actors that threaten peace and security in the region.
The statement described the declaration as the latest step in an expanding partnership that spans security, energy, trade and investment, and credited President Ali’s leadership for deepening it.
This report draws on information from Caribbean Today (CMC).