Guyana ready for last shot at Good Offices Process – Greenidge

Border Controversy

Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge on Tuesday said that although Guyana was hoping to move away from the Good Offices Process, it is now willing to go the course one last time to see a final resolution to the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy.
Giving an official address to the National Assembly, Minister Greenidge said he is sure the announcement would be applauded by every member of the house.
He said Guyana is hoping that with the decision by the Secretary-General, the way ahead will follow the path he has identified, and end once and for all the overly continued aggression by the Spanish speaking nation.

“If by the end of 2017, the Secretary-General concludes that significant progress has not been made in arriving to a full agreement on the controversy, he will choose the International Court of Justice as a next medium of settlement unless the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela requests that he does not.”
Greenidge told the house that the new Secretary-General will name a new personal representative, who will lead the parties in the final year of the process. According to him, Guyana has already assured its commitment to engage in the process and efforts to make it a success. The Minister said Guyana had lost faith in the Good Offices Process, particularly because of the role Venezuela played in stymieing progress.
“But we are willing to give it one last try, facilitated by the Secretary General’s nominee. But obviously, it is a process that can only produce satisfactory results if Venezuela cooperates fully to that end. Guyana will cooperate in resolving the controversy,” he said.
Guyana had in 2014 indicated that it was opting out of the Good Offices Process, which was on the other hand fully embraced by its Spanish speaking counterpart. The country’s position was that the process was doing very little to bring satisfaction and closure to the issue which has been prevailing for decades.
Making its official announcement Friday last, the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said it has reached the conclusion that the Good Offices Process will continue for one final year, with a new personal representative of the Secretary-General, with a strengthened mandate of mediation, who will be appointed by the Secretary-General designate shortly after he takes office.
The release said if, by the end of 2017, the Secretary General concludes that significant progress has not been made toward arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy, he will choose the International Court of Justice as the next means of settlement, unless both parties jointly request that he refrain from doing so.
Guyana, on the verge of becoming a lucrative oil-producing nation, received a decree from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in May last year purporting to claim the majority of Guyana’s waters off the Essequibo shore.
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 dispute between the two 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.
The Guyanese leader 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 pledged to mend the bilateral relationship, while attempts are being made to resolve the border controversy.