Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University in Moscow. President Jagdeo, a former student at the university, was selected for the award by the institution’s academic board last month.
Of Indo-Guyanese descent, Bharrat Jagdeo was born in Unity Village (Demerara) on January 23, 1964. He became a member of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at age 16. After obtaining a Master’s degree in economics in 1990, Jagdeo returned to his homeland to work as an economist. He worked at the Ministry of Finance before rising through the ranks of the government to president in August 1999, after late President Janet Jagan resigned for health reasons. Since then, he has won two elections (2001 and 2006). The youngest head of state of the CARICOM countries, Jagdeo is considered the region’s most visible spokesman on climate change issues.
The conferral ceremony for the honorary doctorate was held at The Kremlin as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the university, which was established by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on February 5, 1960. At the ceremony, the Guyanese Head of State praised the institution for its multiculturalism.
Article from http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-21346–13-13–.html
For more on Jagdeo’s views on climate change, see http://www.cananews.net/news/124/ARTICLE/44599/2009-12-11.html, http://www.caribbeandailynews.com/?p=2334, and http://www.worldleaders.columbia.edu/participants/bharrat-jagdeo
