Gov. Dennis Daugaard (right), discusses South Dakota's

Gov. Dennis Daugaard (right), discusses South Dakota's State Partnership Program with Lamure Latour (center), Suriname minister of defense and John Nay, U.S. ambassador to Suriname, at the Capitol, June 17. The South Dakota National Guard hosted dignitaries from the Republic of Suriname for a week in June. Dignitaries were shown various military training associated with the annual Golden Coyote training exercise, which brought 2,100 National Guard soldiers and airmen from across the U.S. to the Black Hills for the two-week training event. They were also shown ongoing missions by South Dakota's soldiers and airmen conducting flood relief related missions in the state's capitol, Pierre. The South Dakota-Suriname State Partnership Program was formally established in August 2006 to develop mutually beneficial partnerships between the two entities.