No arms race spending but GDF to be reorganised in keeping with assets, partnerships- President Ali

Last Updated on Thursday, 8 February 2024, 10:33 by Denis Chabrol

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that there would be unspecified changes in the way the operations of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in keeping with a greater focus on technology, assets and partnerships with foreign partners.

“There will be, based on our assessment, some reorientation, reorganising of the way we do our work and perform our tasks. And, of course, we have to re-engage  the different levels with the type of assets that we’re investing in. There will be structural changes. To whom much is given, much as expected,”  he told the opening of the 2024 Annual Officers Conference.

Under the GY$42 billion dollar budget for the GDF, the defence force plans to purchase helicopters, another offshore patrol vessel and at least one drone.

Dr Ali said there would be a shift in the GDF’s strategy to ensure there is military efficiency and reliability. Without providing details, he said there would a great emphasis on technology that would allow Guyana to work closely with its defence partners whenever necessary. “Synergy is not only investing in assets but investing in assets and technology that offers a synergy with our partners and our allies so that we have seamless integration when needed,” he said.

United States Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, who was in Guyana earlier this month, said the two countries were “deepening our defence cooperation” to assist Guyana in preserving its borders. “That cooperation is fundamentally defensive in nature and grounded in our desire for Guyana to be able to defend its territorial integrity against any possible threats to that and so that is a big part of the relationship we’re trying to build with Guyana,” he had told Demerara Waves Online News. France and the United Kingdom have also visibly enhanced their defence cooperation with Guyana.

The President, at the same time, sought to assure that Guyana was not engaging in an “arms race” especially with Venezuela, its “formidable neighbour to west.” He said while the Guyana government is committed to recapitalizing the force, and enhancing this capacities, “we do not intend to stretch our financial resources excessively.”

“I want to emphasize the crucial point or and that was the strengthening the Guyana Defence Force and elevate its capabilities are not driven by a desire to engage in an arms race with any nation; very important, we are not in any arms race with any nation,” he said.

Among the areas of focus is the total awareness and coverage of  Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), territory and borders. “That is what these investments are geared towards giving us a comprehensive and total understanding of everything that occurs within our borders, and our exclusive economic zone,” he said.

The President thanked Guyana’s international partners for standing with this South American country in upholding international law, clearly a reference to the the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that established the land boundary with Venezuela as well as the Geneva Agreement that provides for the controversy to be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).