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saturday, june 6, 2015 | guyanatimesGY.com
EU, Guyana celebrate 40 years Guyanese teen killed in NY accident of socioeconomic cooperation T – $150B spent on developmental projects, grant aid
President David Granger meets EU Ambassador Robert Kopecký
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he European Union (EU) and Guyana on Friday celebrated 40 years of socioeconomic cooperation aimed at strengthening both their ties and boosting the growth of the Guyanese economy. On Thursday, EU Ambassador Robert Kopecký and his team met with President David Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency, where they discussed a number of issues of importance to relations between the European Union and Guyana. Ambassador Kopecký congratulated President Granger on his election and noted that 2015 marks 40 years of excellent relations and partnership between Guyana and the EU. Issues discussed included development cooperation, climate change, security, the sugar industry, and regional integration. Human rights issues were also discussed, and President Granger welcomed an EU proposal to hold a regional conference on abolition of the death penalty at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. He also welcomed an EU proposal to fund a feasibility study into the restoration of Georgetown’s historic City Hall.
“Over the last four decades, more than €630 million (equal to some G$150 billion) of combined EU funds have been allocated to Guyana’s development. To this day, the European Union remains the main provider of grant funding to Guyana, and also the biggest donor of development and humanitarian assistance both in the Caribbean Region and in the world”, the EU Ambassador said in a letter to the media. He noted that in Guyana, European development funds have helped reconstruct and maintain the sea defences, mangroves, and the rehabilitation of the Demerara Harbour Bridge. “The EU has also funded several infrastructure projects to help Guyana’s integration in the region. These include the expansion of Ogle International Airport to accommodate international flights, the Corentyne ferry connecting Guyana with Suriname, and the technical upgrade of Cheddi Jagan International Airport in 2004,” the Ambassador related. Over €220 million has been committed to measures directly supporting the sugar, rice and bauxite industries and the people depending on them. Water
supply systems have been put in place in Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara; Rose Hall, East Coast Berbice; and New Amsterdam, East Bank Berbice to provide fresh water to agriculture and households. Many small businesses have also gotten off the ground thanks to the Micro-Projects Programme and the Linden Economic Advancement Programme. Currently over €30 million is being put to use to further upgrade Guyana’s power utility network and improve water supply and sanitation infrastructure. EU support to civil society organisations, non-state actors and local authorities has reached out to beneficiaries in the most remote areas of Guyana, for example Southern Rupununi and Regions One and Two. Ambassador Kopecký said, “As we look to the future, our shared priorities are in the area of climate change adaptation and continuous efforts towards the eradication of poverty and the promotion of human and social rights. Our political relations have always been excellent, and we look forward to many more decades of mutual EU-Guyana cooperation, friendship and partnership.”
wo days after a deadly accident on Interstate 95 highway, New York (NY) City that already taken one life, a Guyanese teenager is the second victim to have succumbed to his injuries. Rajiv Sardjoe, 17 of South Richmond Hill, Queens, NY and formerly of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, died on Friday while receiving medical attention at the Jacobi Medical Centre in the Bronx, NY. The other life claimed was 16-year-old Vanessa Hoodith, who died moments after the accident occurred on Wednesday. According to information received, the vehicle, a red 2013 Audi A4, was attempting to exit Interstate 95 onto Exit 19 at a high rate of speed and failed to negotiate the right-hand curve.
Dead: Rajiv Sardjoe
The car left the roadway and struck the centre concrete barrier. Hoodith was a rear-seat passenger and was pronounced dead at Greenwich Hospital in Westchester County. Sardjoe was one of the three who were taken
to the Westchester Medical Centre immediately after the accident and were listed as stable. The driver of the car is reportedly 18 years of age and is from Hollis, Queens, NY. Relatives of the dead teenager who reside in Guyana stated that they received the news of the accident on Wednesday and were told that he was in a stable but serious condition. One relative stated that when they received the unfortunate news that the teenager had passed, it came as a shock. The young man left Guyana at the age of seven to live with his father and other relatives in New York. His mother lives in Suriname. He was the only child for his parents.
World Environment Day…
School of the Nations students show 'beauty in trash'
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orld Environment Day was commemorated at the School of the Nations with innovative art pieces as the students displayed their concerns for the environment in quite a unique way. June 5 was World Environment Day, with the world highlighting the environment and its many ailments. Persons around the world used different methods to sensitise others to the disasters that occur and how everyone can be part of the solution. The theme for this year’s Environment Day observances is “Seven Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care,” as it is the world’s aim to bring to the attention of its people, the unnecessary amount of products they consume daily and the waste that usually results. The students at School of the Nations understood this concept as they used what everyone would call trash to make several beautiful piec-
es, of which some are quite useful. Third Form students, Daisha Henry and Luisa Franco explained their pieces to Guyana Times. The young ladies, with help from their colleagues, hadused cardboard, empty toilet rolls and several other pieces of discarded items to make little decorative pieces like paper holders, picture frames, among other pieces. Quadad Defreitas too was quite eager to showcase the creative ways he was able to use several discarded plastic bottles and plastic cups. The young man, along with his Fourth Form classmates, made a miniature speed boat with the bottles while he used the cups to make his very own speaker. He said that the piece had morphed into something of its own as he had initially intended it to be a disco ball. From Nations students, this publication gleaned that the World Environmental
Day is the principal vehicle used by the United Nations to encourage worldwide awareness and action for the environment. A Fourth Form student shared with his colleagues that “many of the earth’s ecosystems are nearing critical tipping points of depletion or irreversible change, pushed by high population growth and economic development.” By 2050 if this cannot change, it has been estimated that three planets will be needed to sustain the wasteful way of life that has become the norm. Coordinator for the activity, Sir Chase who is the school’s art Visual Arts Teacher told Guyana Times that the concept was developed to give students a chance to get ‘creative crazy’, while making them aware of the continued depletion of the environment. The students are expected to be rewarded for their creations by the Teachers who will select the winners.