University of Guyana to host Diaspora Engagement Conference

University of Guyana to host Diaspora Engagement Conference

President David Granger will deliver the keynote address to declare the opening of the First University of Guyana Diaspora Engagement Conference, on Monday, July 24, at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel, in Providence, Guyana, where the week-long forum will aim to rebuild and re-band the university.

Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, during the opening session, will welcome speakers from the Diaspora and the homeland. The Project Renaissance will include presentations by Dr. Dhanpaul Narine of the New York City Department of Education, Dr. Indsrianna Minto-Coy, Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies and Chat Bowling, director, Guyana Diaspora Inc. from Russia, and Dr. Raquel Thomas Caesar, director, Resource Management and Training, IWOKRAMA Int. Center for Rainforest Conservation and Development, Guyana.

Topics of discussion are Insights for a Guyanese Diaspora Policy; Towards a Multi-Dimensional Process of Diaspora Engagement; The Diaspora Challenges; The Private Hindu College; Best Practices in Diaspora Engagement and Diaspora Engagement for Tourism Growth in the Caribbean with emphasis on Tobago.

Guyana’s Second Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl B. Greenidge, will address the conference on Guyana’s Diaspora Engagement Strategy. David Lammy, member of parliament of the British House of Commons, in turn, will address the forum.

Ambassador of Mexico to Guyana, H.E. Ivan Roberto Sierra Medel, Opposition Member of Parliament, Gail Teixeir, and Chairman of LAPARKAN Group of Companies, Glen Khan are scheduled to make presentations at the conference.

In addition to keynote speakers and video messages, 42 papers will be presented to the Diaspora Engagement Conference, while Diaspora representatives from Arizona, New York, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey Washington and Maryland will attend the historic forum.

According to the release, attendees from Canada, United Kingdom, Nigeria, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will participate.

The official investiture of the Vice Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Ivelaw Griffith, will be held at the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana on July 28.

Two cultural presentations by England-based Guyanese artist, Keith Waithe and the Renaissance Performers, will entertain the gathering on the opening night.