Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh last evening oversaw the dispatching of a ship carrying a number of containers of relief supplies from the BK Wharf at Kingston to quake-hit Venezuela.
He did this on behalf of President Irfaan Ali.
A release from the Ministry of Finance said that the relief supplies comprised those being sent by Guyana and various other CARICOM countries who assisted in the humanitarian aid, namely the Governments of Belize, The Bahamas, St Lucia, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Besides the 88 containers which contain food items, medical supplies and other equipment, 300 black tanks and two pieces of heavy earth moving equipment were also dispatched.
“Today’s shipment is the result of that effort. And many of us would have witnessed the remarkable response to President Ali’s initiative. We saw a significant government effort, but we also saw a remarkable response by the Guyanese private sector. We saw a remarkable response by Guyanese citizens. We saw a remarkable response by Venezuelan citizens living in Guyana and significantly, I referred earlier to the effort as a national and regional effort, because President Ali also reached out to his CARICOM counterparts, heads of government across CARICOM- and several of his counterparts across CARICOM responded favorably,” the finance minister emphasized.
The ship is expected to arrive in Venezuela within four days of departing Guyana.
The two earthquakes on June 24 have so far claimed the lives of over 3,000 persons and many more are listed as missing.
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