Greenidge to meet incoming UN Secretary General on border controversy

foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge will meet with the incoming United Nations Secretary General António Guterres next week to continue to push for a resolution on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.

Outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had pledged to make an assessment on the border issue by November, ahead of his retirement from office on December 31.

Government spokesperson, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman told media operatives during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Thursday that the meeting would be another part of the process to get the global intergovernmental organisation to pronounce definitively on the matter.

“The meeting between the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and the incoming Secretary General would be a part of the process to secure that recommendation,” he stated.

The Minister will be accompanied by Director General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Audrey Jardine-Waddell.

For decades, Venezuela has laid claim to nearly two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass – the Essequibo.

In fact, the border controversy, which was not on Venezuela’s front burner for several years after being first officially mooted in 1962, was reignited by the latter country, when US oil giant ExxonMobil began exploratory works in the Stabroek Block offshore the Essequibo.

With Guyana on the verge of becoming a lucrative oil-producing nation, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro issued a decree purporting to claim the majority of Guyana’s waters.

The decree was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and was inconsistent with the principle that all states should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states.

In an effort to defend its sovereignty, Guyana made it clear to the Venezuelan Government that the Essequibo and its offshore waters belong to Guyana, and strengthened its push for judicial settlement of the issue, as the Good Officer process had yielded little result. The border between the countries was set by an international tribunal in 1899, in an award the parties, including Venezuela, had agreed would be the final settlement. Since the belligerence from Venezuela, moves have been made by the international community, including the UN Secretary General, to push for a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Guyanese Head of State David Granger and President Maduro had met with the outgoing UN Secretary General for the first time in September last year to discuss the controversy.

The meeting was dubbed fruitful as both Heads of Government pledged to mend the bilateral relationship while attempts are being made to resolve the border controversy.