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President Irfaan Ali bestowed Guyana’s second highest award, the Order of Roraima, to the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
At a special dinner Tuesday evening at State House, the Guyanese Head of State said he was honoured to present the prestigious award to the long-standing regional politician.
“The conferral of Guyana’s Order of Roraima is in deserved recognition of the tireless commitment and unflinching contributions which Dr Gonsalves has made to the cause of regionalism and regional integration.”
He called Gonsalves a Caribbean man who has been committed to “democracy, peace, security and development of the Caribbean.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves is on a four-day Official Visit to Guyana.
The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, is also a recipient of the Order of Roraima. That award was conferred by President David Granger in 2020.
President Granger in bestowing the Award said “The conferral of Guyana’s order of Roraima on Barbados’ Prime Minister exemplifies the essential elements of the historical fraternal relations between our two Caribbean states. This investiture is richly symbolic for Guyana, for Barbados and the Caribbean. Our two states pioneered the founding of the Caribbean Free Trade Area CARIFTA in 1965, prior to independence. Our two states both gained their independence from Britain the following year in 1966,” … Uniquely established a joint high commission in London soon after independence. Prime Ministers Forbes Burnham and Errol Barrow were among the four founding fathers who signed the treaty establishing the Caribbean Community in Chaguaramas in Trinidad and Tobago in 1973.”
