US and Guyana sign joint statement on enhanced military cooperation: training, exercises and airspace surveillance

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali signed a joint statement at the Pentagon on Wednesday, October 21, creating an enhanced defence partnership. The Department of War published a readout of the meeting, while the government of Guyana called the agreement a “milestone”.

The statement names as areas of closer cooperation multi-domain training, interoperability of the two countries’ armed forces, and countering drug trafficking and related threats. The Defense Watch, citing Guyana’s state broadcaster NCN, reports that Washington commits to offering defence expertise, training and joint exercises with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), also aiming to improve awareness of the country’s airspace.

Hegseth linked the cooperation to “narco-terrorism” and to the military influence of powers from outside the Western Hemisphere, which he described as shared concerns, and to the Trump administration’s regional security policy. Guyana takes part in the “Shield of the Americas” initiative against transnational crime. Guyana is also seeking a memorandum with the US on critical minerals, according to the same report.

The statement is a cooperation framework building on the existing security relationship, not a new military alliance. Guyana matters because of its offshore oil and gas fields, which raise the need to protect its exclusive economic zone; in March 2026 Ali said he was discussing EEZ surveillance systems with the US and other partners. The country also has a long-standing territorial dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo region.