Bharrat Jagdeo

Bharrat Jagdeo
7th President of Guyana
In office 11 August 1999 – 3 December 2011
Prime Minister	Sam Hinds
Preceded by	Janet Jagan
Succeeded by	Donald Ramotar
Prime Minister of Guyana
In office 9 August 1999 – 11 August 1999
President	Janet Jagan
Preceded by	Sam Hinds
Succeeded by	Sam Hinds
President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations
In office 26 November 2010 – 29 October 2011
Preceded by	Rafael Correa
Succeeded by	Fernando Lugo
Personal details
Born	23 January 1964 (1964-01-23) Unity Village, British Guiana (now Guyana)
Political party	People's Progressive Party
Spouse(s)	Varshni Jagdeo (Divorced)
Alma mater	Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
Religion	Hinduism

Bharrat Jagdeo (born 23 January 1964) is a Guyanese politician who was President of Guyana from 11 August 1999 to 3 December 2011. Prior to his presidency, he was Minister of Finance and became President after Janet Jagan resigned for health reasons; subsequently he won two elections, in 2001 and 2006.

Jagdeo was born in Unity Village on the East Coast of Demerara. He joined the youth wing of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), the Progressive Youth Organisation, when he was 13, and became a member of the PPP itself at age 16. He subsequently rose to local leadership positions in the party.

Education and early career

After obtaining a Master's in Economics from Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University in Moscow in 1990, Jagdeo returned to Guyana and worked as an economist in the State Planning Secretariat until the PPP/Civic election victory in the October 1992 election. After this he became Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance. On 6 February 2010, the degree of Honorary Doctorate was conferred on to President Jagdeo by the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University in Moscow.

Jagdeo was appointed as Junior Minister of Finance in October 1993, and a few weeks later, at the PPP's 24th Congress, he was elected to the party's Central Committee. He later became a member of the Executive Committee of the PPP. In the Cabinet, he was promoted to Senior Minister of Finance in May 1995.

Prime Minister and President

On 8 August 1999, Janet Jagan announced that she was resigning as President for health reasons and that Jagdeo would be her successor. Because the Prime Minister is the President's legal successor, Jagdeo took office as Prime Minister on 9 August so that he would be positioned to succeed Jagan. He was then sworn in as President on 11 August.

Jagdeo was re-elected for another five-year term on 28 August 2006, with the PPP garnering 54.6 percent of the votes and expanded its majority by two to 36 seats in the 65-member parliament. He was sworn in for another term on 2 September [1]

At the PPP's 29th Congress, Jagdeo received the highest number of votes (777) in the election to the party's Central Committee, held on 2 August 2008. He was then elected to the PPP Executive Committee on 12 August 2008.

In late 2011, he completed the second of two constitutionally allowed terms. He stepped down; his successor was sworn in on 3 December 2011.

Initiatives

President Jagdeo’s tenure in office has seen significantly improved access to education, rehabilitation of the health system, far-reaching land reform, the biggest expansion of the housing sector in Guyana’s history, expansion of the water and sanitation systems, and large-scale development of the road, river and air transport networks. In parallel, Guyana’s national debt has been substantially reduced, new public procurement and competition laws have been passed, and reforms to the tax, fiscal and investment regimes were implemented. As of January 2011, Guyana is entering its fifth year of strong economic growth, external debt has been almost halved, and external reserves are almost three times their 2006 level.

Long an advocate for meaningful reform of international institutions, President Jagdeo was elected as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IMF and World Bank in September 2005. He occupied this position until September 2006.

One of Jagdeo's first acts on assuming the Presidency of Guyana was to sign into Guyana's constitution a two-term limit for Presidents. He will be the first President to demit office in accordance with this constitutional provision, after the 2011 elections which will take place before the end of the year. On November 26, 2011, Jagdeo made a emotional farewell address ahead of the nation's elections on November 28, 2011. He spoke of accomplishments, such as the economy and defense issues.

Honours

President Jagdeo has been awarded the Pushkin Medal by the Government of Russia, and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by the Government of India.

In recent years, President Jagdeo has emphasized the need for urgent international action to avert the worst extremes of climate change. Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy sets out a national scale, replicable model to protect Guyana’s 16 million hectare forest, address the 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions that result from deforestation and forest degradation, and re-orient the Guyanese economy onto a long-term “low deforestation, low carbon, climate resilient trajectory”. As part of building this global model, Norway is partnering with Guyana to provide up to US$250 million by 2015 for avoided greenhouse gas emissions from Guyana’s forest. Guyana is using these payments and domestic resources to attract private investment to opportunities in clean energy and new low carbon economic sectors, as well as to make significant public investments in other social and economic priorities. This has been described by CDKN, the UK-based climate policy network as "maybe the most progressive low carbon development strategy in a low income (sic) country."

President Jagdeo was awarded the United Nations “Champion of the Earth” award in 2010. Time Magazine and CNN also named the President as one of their “Heroes of the Environment" in 2008. In early 2010, the Secretary General of the United Nations asked President Jagdeo to serve on the Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance.

Jagdeo was a signatory to The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations in May 2008. Guyana has ratified the treaty. In November 2009, Jagdeo hosted the Heads of Government of South America in Georgetown, as he took over the one year Pro Tempore Presidency of Unasur.

External links

• Jagdeo hails smooth voting process - news story which refers to Jagdeo as the "outgoing president"
• Address by H.E. President Bharrat Jagdeo to the General Debate of the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, 21 September 2011

Political offices
Preceded by Sam Hinds	Prime Minister of Guyana 1999	Succeeded by Sam Hinds
Preceded by Janet Jagan	President of Guyana 1999–2011	Succeeded by Donald Ramotar
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Rafael Correa	President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations 2010–2011	Succeeded by Fernando Lugo