Brazilian Vice Admiral Ademir Sobrinho (second from right) and a team that included Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana Luiz Seixas De Andrade (second from left) with President Donald Ramotar and Chief- of- Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Commodore Gary Best

The Brazilian Navy is offering to beef up marine transport in Guyana’s interior and support the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Coast Guard.

The offers were made on Tuesday when Brazilian Vice Admiral Ademir Sobrinho met President Donald Ramotar at his office for talks aimed at strengthening ties between the Brazilian navy and the local Coast Guard.

In the company of a team of senior officers that included GDF Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best, Admiral Sobrinho and President Ramotar discussed the possibility of Brazil supporting Guyana in the area of marine transport in hinterland communities, medivac and health care services.

On his first visit to Guyana, Sobrinho told the Government Information Agency (GINA) about two initiatives aimed at providing maintenance support to the GDF coast guard vessels and to also “qualify the GDF crews.”

Brazil has in the past been one of the main overseas partners with Guyana to provide training for the GDF coastguard. One such was the on-the job training onboard Brazilian military vessels.

In 2009, 11 Officers of the Guyana Defence Force participated in a local 16-week training programme focused on several aspects of Coastguard operations.