Achievements of The Bouterse Goverment in first year - Part 1

- One of my students doing CAPE's Caribbean History is doing a personal project charting the achievements of the Suriname Bouterse government which is coming to the end of its first term in May 2015.
This is the first of three posts on the first year in government.

 Guyanese readers may be interested in the actions of this goverment in furthering national unity, strengthening Suriname's international image and dealing with Suriname's natural resources.

The Bouterse goverment was a coalition that included Ronnie Brunswijk Bouterse's armed enemy who fought against him in Suriname's six year civil war 1986-1992.

For Guyanese it is interesting to note that three groups who were sworn enemies let go of their past hosility to create a government that sought to project a diverse society working to promote the Surinamese nation.

2010
(26-11-2010) Desiré Delano Bouterse attended the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) that was held in East Coast Demerara, Guyana.  Other major South American leaders at the UNASUR summit included Luiz Inacio da Silva of Brazil: Rafael Calderon of Ecuador, Crist Amossiene Fernandez of Argentina, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Bharat Jagdeo of Guyana.

(7-12-2010) President Bouterse calls on young people to participate in the third elections of the national youth parliament.  “I appeal to you, young people of Suriname, to think, to talk to and to participate in the development of our beloved Suriname.”

(10-12-2010) During the 48th regular meeting of the Commission CICAD (Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission) of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in Washington, DC,It was unanimously decided on December 8, 2010 by the CICAD-member countries to hold the 49th meeting of CICAD in Suriname in May 2011.

(27-12-2010)  In a personal letter addressed to Mrs. Janssen the widow of a tourist murdered in Suriname President Bouterse expresses his condolences.

2011:

(02-01-2011)   President Desiré Delano Bouterse attended the inauguration of recently elected President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.

President and Mrs Bouterse with the President of Brazil

- The President of the Republic of Suriname, Desire Delano Bouterse,  initiated discussion on the restructuring of the gold sector of Suriname.  The commission responsible for this restructuring was installed on December 20th 2010, and was ordered to pay close attention to security, the environment, our health, and socio- economic aspects.  Their regulation of people working within the gold sector began in January 2011.

- First Conference of the Gold Sector Planning cwas held in Suriname on the 18th and 19th of February 2011

- Following the request of the trade unions and the business community to discuss the measures announced that the Government is working to implement, the President of the Republic of Suriname, Desiré Delano Bouterse, convened a meeting on Monday, February 21.  In this meeting the trade unions, the business community and the Government led by President Bouterse participated.  At the meeting it was decided to put together a committee to prepare the Tripartite consultation, which has the task of putting together the intent of these consultations.

- On the 5th March 2011, in the Brokopondo  district an energy consultation was held with the aim of making the national electricity supply secure in the short and medium term. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Republic of Suriname.

(22-03-2011). Suriname receivesd Venezuelan representatives in connection with PetroCaribe deal  During this meeting the two delegations made concrete agreements regarding the purchase of fuel and the purchase of urea by Suriname.

On November 26th 2010 President Chavez of Venezuela visited. Agreements were made for Suriname rice to be marketed in Venezuela. The November agreements were further examined and more details were added to those plans.

- President Desiré Delano Bouterse on March 22, 2011, received the leaders of the Youth Representatives of Suriname.

(13-04-2012) President Desiré Delano Bouterse met with a delegation to assess the security issue in Suriname.

President Bouterse with President Martelly

(15-05-2011)President Desiré Delano Bouterse congratulated Michel Martelly on his election as President. The President attended the inauguration of Michel Joseph Martelly, President of the Republic of Haiti.  Also attending were: the President of Honduras, Former President Clinton of the USA, and theVice President of Colombia.  Several foreign ministers including Canada and France also attended the presidential ceremony.
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- In Paraguay, there were festivities to celebrate 200 years of independence from colonial Spain.  The President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, was honored that Suriname had come personally to congratulate the country on Paraguay’s achievement.

(25-05-2011).Cuba and Suriname announced their intenion to strengthen cooperation   President Desiré Delano Bouterse was officially welcomed by the Head of State of the Republic of Cuba, President Raul Hector Castro.

Presidents Bouterse and Castro

(27-05-2011)  Suriname and Cuba signed an agreement on technical support for sport

- The government addressed housing shortages in Suriname