France to open embassy in Guyana next year, will issue Schengen visas

Last Updated on Monday, 25 March 2024, 23:34 by Denis Chabrol

Guyanese who would like to visit European Union (EU) member-nations would from next year no longer have to travel to Suriname to obtain Schengen visas, as France would be doing so in 2025 when it opens an embassy in Georgetown, Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd said Saturday.

Mr Todd said France’s decision to establish a full-fledged diplomatic presence here was communicated to President Irfaan Ali and his team by French Foreign Minister, Stéphane Séjourné.

The two sides were Monday finalising a joint statement that is expected to say that the decision to establish the embassy in Guyana means that the two countries have opted to “write a new chapter in their history”. The joint statement is expected to underline the fact that “France will be the first EU country with this level of diplomatic representation in Guyana.”

Foreign Minister Todd hailed the decision, acknowledging the benefit that the consular service would bring to Guyanese who are desirous of obtaining Schengen visas to travel to one or more EU member nation. “We’ve had many, many discussions about the establishment of a French embassy here,” he added.

Back in August, 2022, President Ali had publicly called on the EU to start processing and issuing Schengen visas in Guyana within three months. “It’s nonsense. Absolutely ridiculous and in this modern world in which Guyana is strategically positioned, you have all the sophisticated investors coming in to Guyana to invest, we can’t continue like this,” he had said then at the launch of the EU-Guyana Chamber of Commerce.

Though France has a diplomatic bureau here, it does not provide consular services and its Charge D’Affaires reports to the Paramaribo-based French Embassy which is responsible for relations with Guyana, Suriname and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

From Guyana, the French Foreign Minister Séjourné  flies to neighbouring Brazil to join France’s President Emmanuel Macron for a March 26-28 official visit. There, Mr Macron and his delegation would be taken on visits to several places by Brazil’s President Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ Da Silva. The visit will see the French delegation witnessing Brazil’s launch of a conventionally propelled submarine as well as their participation in sports, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation events.

France was the first European country to recognize the Brazilian independence, in 1825, establishing important political, cultural and economic ties with Brazil. President Lula visited France in June 2023, on the occasion of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.

France is the third largest investor in Brazil, based on  the ultimate controller criteria, with nearly $38 billion in investments. In 2023, bilateral trade reached $8.4 billion, inclulding $2.9 billion in Brazilian exports.