Guyana has hand­ed over a new of­fi­cial res­i­dence to CARI­COM Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al Dr Car­la Bar­nett, end­ing a decades-long re­liance on rent­ed ac­com­mo­da­tion.

Pres­i­dent Ir­faan Ali pre­sent­ed the keys to the prop­er­ty dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ny in Sparen­daam, East Coast De­mer­ara on Sat­ur­day, de­scrib­ing the ges­ture as a sym­bol of Guyana’s com­mit­ment to re­gion­al in­te­gra­tion.

“Guyana is stead­fast in its sup­port of re­gion­al in­te­gra­tion,” Ali said. He added that the res­i­dence would ease the Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al’s com­mute and bring her clos­er to the Sec­re­tari­at’s head­quar­ters.

Dr Bar­nett wel­comed the han­dover, say­ing she and her fam­i­ly looked for­ward to liv­ing there. “It re­al­ly is a pleas­ant place to live… I know my suc­ces­sors will en­joy liv­ing here al­so.”

She al­so an­nounced plans to plant flow­ers and fruit trees on the prop­er­ty to rep­re­sent each CARI­COM mem­ber state.

The CARI­COM flag was hoist­ed at the res­i­dence for the first time fol­low­ing the cer­e­mo­ny.

The last pur­pose-owned res­i­dence for a Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al was Col­grain House, pur­chased in 1975. Since then, Dr Bar­nett and her pre­de­ces­sor Am­bas­sador Ir­win LaRocque had been housed in rent­ed ac­com­mo­da­tion.