The Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William J Burns, made a brief visit to Guyana on Thursday and held talks with President Irfaan Ali and senior security officials.
“President Dr Irfaan Ali received a courtesy visit from Director of the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), William J Burns,” according to a brief statement issued by the Department of Public Information (DPI), showing photographs of the two delegations at a meeting here.
It gave no further details, but media reports said that “a number of security and other intelligence matters related to Guyana and the Caribbean and Latin America region were raised and discussed at the meeting”.
Ali’s delegation to the meeting included Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Omar Khan as well as head of National Intelligence, Colonel Sheldon Howell, the acting Police Commissioner, Clifton Hicken and the director of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit, James Singh.
Burns was as accompanied by US Ambassador Nicole Theriot and other senior Embassy and US government officials.
Earlier this week, the US embassy signed an agreement with the Guyana Government, making an additional US$300,000 available to Guyana under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative to combat a number of security challenges, including the trafficking of narcotics.