The International Court of Justice (World Court) ruled on Friday last that it has jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s application with regard to the dispute concerning “the legal validity and binding effect of the award regarding the boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, of 3 October 1899.” This great preliminary success on the issue of jurisdiction was achieved after a monumental degree of work over a long period of time by a large number of Foreign Ministry officials, consultants, experts, advisers and lawyers. Since 1966 many have labored on this matter.
