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PRESS BRIEFING
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
AGENDA
• BUDGET CONSULTATIONS
• MACHINE READABLE PASSPORTS
• POLITICAL DIALOGUE
• MINISTERIAL SECTORS PROJECTION/TARGETS 2005
The Administration would soon be replacing the current Guyana passports with machine readable passports. The move is in keeping with Regional/ International norms and promotes convenience and security.
The new passport will contains features that would allow the bearer to be uniquely identified via access to an electronic master data base.
The Guyana innovation would see the creation of the data base, the establishment of passport issuing centres in Guyana and overseas, the installation of the necessary technology at ports of exit/entry and the manpower training.
The President and Cabinet Ministers will be conducting another round of community engagements with a focus on fine-tuning 2005 Budget preparation.
Teams would be in Hinterland locations, Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9 in their main populations centres to solicit community reaction to their Agricultural, Local Government infrastructure social services needs.
The Prime Minister would be leading those teams.
The Coast and Regions would be visited by other Cabinet Ministers with a similar mission.
Communities visits/activities would commence by week ending Saturday, January 2, 2005.
The Opposition PNCR continues to ignore opportunities to address outstanding issues from the previous exercises in Dialogue and Constructive Engagements.
Specific mention was made of the outstanding issues by the two Leaders.
What Mr. Corbin did not say is that despite undertakings made when President Carter's visit and definitely inconsistent with his publicised pleas for conclusion, the PNCR has diligently refused all PPP/C's efforts to meet to address those issues.
The PPP/C Administration identified and appointed its representatives immediately after President Carter's visit and its embrace of his recommendations.
Even President Carter has apparently failed to get the PNC/R to return to the table.
The recent call for public debate and the expressed willingness/commitment of both Leaders to participate still does not address the recognised imperative of concluding those outstanding issues.
MINISTERIAL SECTOR PROJECTIONS/ TARGETS 2005
Over the 1 st Cabinet meeting of 2005, Cabinet members reviewed the overall state of the Administration in 2004, discussed 2005 and examines sectoral projections.
The main observations centred on:-
• Mobilising popular sentiments on the main issue of the day;
• Maximising benefits from Governmental actions;
. Mainstreaming monitoring/evaluation
The Social Sectors all recognised the need to achieve value for money and all stressed the importance of community/end uses participation/involvement.
The Finance and Economic infrastructure sectors stress Programme Management with close attention to meeting targets.
National Security/Law Enforcement concerns that surfaces reflected Cabinet members version on citizens security and justice administration.
The 2005 review is continuing.