"We build more than a branch; they are bridges as they con­nect us," said. Roop­nar­ine Oumade Singh, ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of Re­pub­lic Bank Lim­it­ed at the for­mal open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the bank's new Rio Claro Branch.

Singh was among of­fi­cials speak­ing at the cer­e­mo­ny which fea­tured a keynote ad­dress by Sen­a­tor Clarence Ramb­harat, Min­is­ter of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries. The min­is­ter ex­pressed his ad­mi­ra­tion for the guest list of the cer­e­mo­ny which in­clud­ed stal­warts and ex­em­plars who have played a sig­nif­i­cant role in the Rio Claro com­mu­ni­ty. He said this showed the bank's "recog­ni­tion of the his­to­ry of the im­por­tant peo­ple we have here" in Rio Claro.

Ramb­hara, who said he is "very proud to be a prod­uct of this com­mu­ni­ty", praised Re­pub­lic Bank as a good cor­po­rate cit­i­zen in terms of fund­ing ed­u­ca­tion­al pro­grammes and cul­ture and the arts. He urged oth­er cor­po­rate en­ti­ties, in these eco­nom­i­cal­ly chal­leng­ing times, "to make a com­mit­ment to our peo­ple."

Jem­ma Per­sad, branch sales man­ag­er of the Rio Claro/Ma­yaro Branch said she was both "proud and hum­bled to see the re­al­iza­tion of this dream."

She added that the branch had achieved the cov­et­ed ti­tle of Branch of the Year 2015 and looked for­ward, with the spank­ing new build­ing, to re­tain­ing that ti­tle in 2016.

"We are mak­ing our roots more pro­found in the Rio Claro com­mu­ni­ty," she said.

The open­ing cer­e­mo­ny in­clud­ed the in­ter-faith Bless­ing of the branch by Khaleel Chadee, Imam of the Rio Claro Asj Ma­jid, Lalchan Dook­ie, Sec­re­tary Swayam Se­vak Sangh Tem­ple and James Ga­jad­har, El­der/Chair­per­son of the Rio Claro Pres­by­ter­ian Church.