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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali Before Their Meeting [ https://www.state.gov/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-and-guyanese-president-irfaan-ali-before-their-meeting/ ] 03/27/2025 02:58 PM EDT
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Georgetown, Guyana
State House
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali Before Their Meeting
Remarks
March 27, 2025
*PRESIDENT ALI:*  Secretary Rubio, let me again welcome you to Guyana.  (Inaudible) you are no stranger to Guyana.  You’ve been one of our strongest voices in the U.S., always keeping what is relevant to Guyana – security, peace, and importantly, on democracy issues, your voice – your voice is very well-known, respected, and very loud.  And those are values that shape our relationship, so we are very pleased to welcome you.  We were hoping to have you as a senator, but we have you as Secretary of State – (laughter) – and in a very important and interesting (inaudible) development (inaudible) where we see the U.S. important as a partner in security, investment, trade, including (inaudible).  So welcome.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Thank you.  It’s sure exciting to be here, and I’ll say this in a broader setting later, but I think this is one of the most exciting places to be in the world right now because of the extraordinary transformational opportunity (inaudible).  I know of no other place that has (inaudible) the horizons that you do over the next five to 10 years.  The fact that it’s located in a region that we share is even more exciting.  We’re neighbors.  We’re always going to be neighbors, and we want to continue to build on that partnership. 
So for our country, for the United States, it’s a desire to partner with you in ways that are mutually beneficial.  We want this – your country – to be safe and secure and prosperous for all of your citizens, for – and to serve as an example, and also as a place that we can transact and we can do business and commercial opportunities together in a way, obviously, that respects your sovereignty and is critical to your plan and your vision for the people of this country and for the (inaudible).
I think every country wants to be a place where their citizens feel like their children: when they grow up, they can stay – not move.  You want – you don’t want to be a place where in order to find a better life, if you become a doctor or an engineer, you feel like there are better opportunities in another place.  And that’s what you have the opportunity to do right now.  That’s what’s already happening in your leadership.
And so we want to be here to help that happen because we think it helps us.  The stronger you are, the stronger we’re going to be, so we’re here to empower in the ways that we can.  Obviously, you face a – some recently well-known challenges to your sovereignty and security, and I hope that today both in our meetings, in our statements, in our concrete actions – we know that fundamental to your plans for the future are your security and the integrity of territory that is yours, that belongs to you rightfully, and that (inaudible).  The lines are well known.  But you have, as I said, incredible opportunity.  To the extent that American companies, in compliance with your laws and your vision for the future, can contribute to that in partnership, that’s something we want to pursue.
But we also just want to pursue opportunities as friends and as countries who share values and traditions and a long history.  So I’m excited to be here today.  As I said, I’ve tried to come so many times.  I used to go to the airport in Miami and see that direct flight on American and say I need to take one of these trips, but now they fly me here directly.  (Laughter.)  So I’m glad to be able to come here, and it won’t be our last visit. 
And obviously – or as I shared with you privately a moment ago but I didn’t say publicly – this was a few weeks ago – you got to meet a number of our cabinet secretaries, and so there’s an increasing team of us on the President’s cabinet who are also excited about all the opportunities that we have together.  And it’s one of the trips I’ve wanted to do, and when I knew I was going to get this new role, I decided I was (inaudible).  And now here I am nine weeks in, by the way.  Only nine – I’ve only been here nine weeks.  And we wanted to come early and we want to come back, and of course, we want to see you or any members of your team any time they’re in Washington or anywhere in the United States we can get with you.  But we’ll see each other many times.
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Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs [ https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-political-affairs/bureau-of-western-hemisphere-affairs/ ] Democracy [ https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/democracy/ ] Diplomacy [ https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/diplomacy/ ] Foreign Policy [ https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/foreign-policy/ ] Guyana [ https://www.state.gov/countries-areas/guyana/ ] Office of the Spokesperson [ https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-public-diplomacy-and-public-affairs/bureau-of-global-public-affairs/office-of-the-spokesperson/ ] The Secretary of State [ https://www.state.gov/secretary/ ] body { font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; color: #333333; } ________________________________________________________________________
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