British warship arrives in Guyana’s waters on defence cooperation visit

…as top-ranking GDF officials tour vessel, hosted by visitors

British warship HMS Trent has entered Guyana’s waters, in its effort to carry out routine defence cooperation and exercises with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Coast Guard that the Government has made clear are not threats to neighbouring Venezuela.
The ship, which is under the command of Commander Tim D Langford, docked in Guyana’s waters on Friday, after which GDF Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Omar Khan, and United Kingdom (UK) High Commissioner to Guyana Jane Miller went onboard the ship and were given a tour and hosted by the ship’s officers.
The ship, a river class patrol vessel, is in Guyana to take part in joint exercises with Guyana’s Defence Force. Britain’s Ministry of Defence had announced the ship’s visit to Guyana since last week Sunday.

The ship’s presence comes after a recent visit of UK Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Rutley, to Guyana, where he met with President Dr Irfaan Ali and other top officials. That meeting saw discussions on expanding relations between the UK and Guyana in sustainable and economic development and security.
But following the reports of the UK sending its Royal Navy patrol vessel to Guyana as part of a series of engagements in this Region, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday had said the deployment of the British warship to Guyana’s waters violates the spirit of the Argyle Agreement between the two South American neighbours, made earlier this month in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
During a televised broadcast on Thursday, Maduro also described the visit of the British vessel as a threat to the peace and sovereignty of his country by the UK. He also ordered “the activation of a joint defensive action of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces” off the coast of Essequibo.
Based on international reports, some 5682 soldiers, along with three ocean patrol vessels, seven missile boats, 12 Sukhoi planes, and eight amphibious vehicles, were deployed to Venezuela’s eastern Caribbean coast near the border with Guyana’s Essequibo, which that Spanish-speaking nation is laying claim to. Maduro further called on the Guyanese authorities to have the UK Navy vessel withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry in a statement on Friday had urged calm and made it clear that “the Brazilian Government is following the latest developments in the dispute surrounding the Essequibo region with concern.”

However, top Guyanese officials have made it clear that Venezuela has nothing to concern itself with when it comes to the ship’s visit. President Ali had dismissed concerns over the impending visit of the HMS Trent to Guyana’s waters, saying that no activities within the country’s territory should be viewed as a threat to any other nation, including Venezuela.

“Neither Venezuela nor any other state has anything to fear from activities within Guyana’s sovereign territory or waters. I have iterated before that we harbour no ambitions or intentions to covet what does not belong to us.”
“We are fully committed to peaceful relations with our neighbours and all countries in our Region. Guyana remains fully steadfast in promoting and advancing peace whilst pursuing national development,” President Ali had posited in a statement to the media on Thursday evening.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has insisted that the visit of the HMS Trent is a planned and routine measure, and is not intended to be used in any way to threaten Venezuela. He noted that the visit is aimed at bolstering Guyana’s defensive capability.
“Nothing that we do or we’ve done has threatened Venezuela. We don’t plan on invading Venezuela. President Maduro knows this, and he needs not have any worry about that. That assurance was given to him in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and we have done so before St Vincent and the Grenadines and we will continue to do so now. We don’t have any plan to take offensive actions against Venezuela.”
“Whatever we do here has been routine, and has been long planned and is part of our building a defensive capability in Guyana, not necessarily to fight wars, but to police better our Exclusive Economic Zone and our territorial integrity and sovereignty…President [Ali] has not asked the British vessel to move away from what was a planned activity, and [what] we see as routine and which has no offensive intent against Venezuela,” Jagdeo had stated during his press conference on Thursday. (G3)