Delegation of the European Union to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and for the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories

The Delegation represents the European Union in nine countries and territories in the region. These include Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago as well as six Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, namely Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten.

The Regional Delegation in Guyana is complemented by an antenna Delegation in Trinidad and Tobago headed by a Chargé d'Affaires. The Delegation also represents EU interests vis-à-vis the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) whose Secretariat is headquartered in Georgetown Guyana.

Guyana has enjoyed close political and economic relations with Europe since 1976. In the following decades the process of European integration has brought a constant enhancement of the political and economic relationships between the country and what is now the European Union.

The European Commission established its Delegation in Guyana following the signature of the First Lomé Convention, to facilitate the implementation of the programmes foreseen under the Convention and to represent, together with the embassies and consulates of the EU Member States, the European institutions in the country. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on the 1 December 2009, the Delegation of the European Commission officially became the Delegation of the European Union. This change aims at increasing coherence of action of the European Union in all aspects of its external relations.

The European Union is not only a key political and trade partner for Guyana but through its development cooperation programmes also the country's largest donor and grant partner for development and the only partner providing grant aid for the rehabilitation of Guyana's vulnerable sea defences which remain critical to the country's development.