Granger meets UN team on Venezuela border controversy

President David Granger, this morning, met with a team from the United Nations to discuss his Government’s position on relations between Guyana and Venezuela and the ongoing border controversy between the two countries.

A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said today that Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge and Minister of State, Joseph Harmon were also present at the meeting.

The team, which was accompanied by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Country Representative, Khadija Musa comprised Chief, Americas Division in the Department of Political Affairs, Martha Doggett, Political Affairs Officer, Marylene Smeets, Legal Officer from the UN Office of Legal Affairs, Diana Taratukhina and Senior Mediation Expert from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, Sven Koopmans.

The release said that Doggett who is leading the delegation explained, “We are really here to inform ourselves of the views of the Governments (of Guyana and Venezuela) and their views on the next steps so that we can advise the Secretary General of the United Nations, who will then speak to the Presidents and craft a way forward.”

From L-R- are Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Country Representative, Khadija Musa; President David Granger; Chief, Americas Division in the Department of Political Affairs, Martha Doggett; Senior Mediation Expert from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, Sven Koopmans; Political Affairs Officer, Marylene Smeets and Legal Officer from the UN Office of Legal Affairs, Diana Taratukhina at the Ministry of the Presidency (Ministry of the Presidency photo)
From L-R- are Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Country Representative, Khadija Musa; President David Granger; Chief, Americas Division in the Department of Political Affairs, Martha Doggett; Senior Mediation Expert from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, Sven Koopmans; Political Affairs Officer, Marylene Smeets and Legal Officer from the UN Office of Legal Affairs, Diana Taratukhina at the Ministry of the Presidency (Ministry of the Presidency photo)

While the team is yet to visit Venezuela, Doggett said that the UN has had a number of exchanges with both parties in New York eads oHeand at the recently concluded CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in Barbados.

At that meeting, President Granger had stated that the Good Officer Process which had been utilised for more than two decades to settle the country had outlived its usefulness and a better solution is needed to end Venezuela’s aggression, with regard to Guyana’s sovereign territory.

At the same forum, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave a commitment that a mission would be sent to Guyana and Venezuela with the aim of addressing the matter from a more in depth and informed point of view.

In May, Venezuela’s President, Nicholas Maduro issued a Decree, claiming most of Guyana’s territorial waters along the Essequibo Coast, thereby triggering a deterioration in relations with Guyana. That Decree was subsequently withdrawn and replaced with a new one that supports and justifies the actions of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) in defending the newly created Integrated Defense Maritime Zones and Island, which encompasses most of Guyana’s exclusive economic zone, the release noted.

The Decree was issued after United States-based oil company Exxon Mobil announced that it has discovered significant evidence of oil in the Stabroek Block offshore Demerara.