…says migration figures ‘startling’Admitting that the country’s migration figures are “startling,” President Donald Ramotar yesterday urged the country’s diplomats to turn that “brain drain” into an advantage for the country.He said that while Guyanese in the Diaspora could be encouraged to invest home,Cheap Jerseys Online, their expertise and skills in various areas could also? help to fashion successful development programmes here.President Donald Ramotar, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds with Guyana’s diplomats at the opening of a conference yesterday.Diplomats stationed as far away as Kuwait, China and India were flown into the country for a one-week conference that the government hopes would orient them about its vision for the country.The conference of Guyanese diplomats serving overseas and in Guyana is usually organized when a government changes.Ramotar joked about the fact that he once heard a story whereby taxi driver in Iceland looked around at a passenger and asked in Guyanese accent “What happen deh bro?”His point was that in any part of the world, there is a Guyanese, but he said that does not necessarily have to be continued to be seen in a negative light, even if the number of educated Guyanese migrating remains startling.“Since we can’t do anything about that, we have to try to turn it to our advantage as much as we possibly can,” he stated.The President said that the help could not only be in the form of direct economic development, namely investment, but the country could also do with access to their skills.He noted that many Guyanese abroad hold key positions and can therefore “fertilise” development ideas here.He said that they can bring new perspectives and best practices that can help develop Guyanese society.In addition,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, diplomats were told that since Guyana is a small country unable to provide jobs for its people, overseas investment is needed and said that diplomats can help in attracting such investment.Ramotar said that the diplomats can help paint an image of Guyana as a country that is efficient.He said neither the private nor public sector has the resources to carry out projects that would increase production and productivity and to create jobs for a growing educated population and therefore the country needs to attract investments from abroad.He urged the diplomats to help create partnerships and alliances with governments and businesses abroad since investments are vital to the country’s development.Ramotar said that for this to happen,Jerseys Wholesale, the diplomats would need to paint the “true picture” of Guyana.He said that Guyana must be seen as a reliable partner that takes it decisions seriously.“Your job becomes more important to us in order to ensure that the image of our country is not damaged,” Ramotar said as he sought their help in correcting what he described as a tainted perception of Guyana which some sections of the media are guilty of propagating.“It also affects our economic well being… we don’t have all the resources either in our private sector or in our public sector to have all the investments that we will need to develop our country… we have to ensure that the true picture of our country is well known abroad,” President Ramotar said.The President said that the government also sees its foreign missions as integral to the country’s territorial integrity which President Ramotar said must be protected at all times even while simultaneously publicising world peace.“Our whole outlook must be one of building world peace because only within an atmosphere of peace in the world will we be able to fulfill many of the plans that we have,” President Ramotar said.Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, told the diplomats that foreign policy is being conducted in an evolving international environment and there diplomacy needs to move beyond what is traditional.She urged the diplomats to incorporate in their agendas issues such as external trade,Wholesale Jerseys China, climate change, sustainable development, human rights and migrationShe said that technology has made communication faster and has blurred the lines of bureaucracy that once existed in foreign missions,China Jerseys Authentic, but she said this is a process that must nevertheless be managed.Rodrigues apprised the diplomats of some developments in the country’s foreign policy since the last conference was held in 2003.She noted that the country’s prominence in the international arena proliferated when former President Bharrat Jagdeo was conferred the Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 2010.President Ramotar called on G