Guyana and the United States have signed a Joint Declaration for an Enhanced Defense Partnership, providing for sustained US defence expertise, military training and combined exercises with the Guyana Defence Force.
President Dr. Irfaan Ali and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the declaration at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
According to the announcement, the agreement builds on decades of security cooperation and is intended to strengthen Guyana’s capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
A key area of cooperation will be improving Guyana’s awareness of activity in its airspace and surrounding areas. The release said this would enhance the country’s ability to monitor, deter and respond to potential threats.
The US Department of War also committed to providing defence expertise, training across multiple operational domains and combined exercises to support the GDF’s modernisation.
The declaration further sets out cooperation against narcotrafficking and organisations described in the release as “narcoterrorist,” building on the countries’ participation in the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition and the Shield of the Americas.
The announcement presented the commitments as a means of deterring threats from both state and non-state actors to Guyana and the wider region.
It also placed the declaration within a broader relationship encompassing energy, trade and investment, alongside security cooperation.
