Guyana, Venezuela foreign ministers meeting in Brazil

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC -Guyana’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Hilton Todd, will meet his Venezuelan counterpart, Yván Gil Pinto in Brazil on Thursday, the first high level meeting between the two countries since their leaders met in St. Vincent and the Grenadines last December over the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute.

The Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela, issued following talks in Kingston, noted that Presidents Dr. Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro had agreed to establish immediately a joint commission of the foreign ministers and technical persons from the two countries to address matters as mutually agreed.

The statement said then that an update from this joint commission will be submitted to the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela within three months.

It said that the two leaders had agreed to meet again in Brazil, within the next three months, “or at another agreed time, to consider any matter with implications for the territory in dispute, including the above-mentioned update of the joint commission”.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Guyana remains fully committed to the principles of the Argyle Declaration in particular the maintenance of peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Guyana’s delegation to Brazil will also include Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, Permanent Secretary Richard Van West Charles, the Guyana Ambassador to Venezuela; Donnette Streete as well as the Director of the Frontiers Department and Vernon Robinson.

The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela at their meeting said they are committed to the pursuance of good neighbourliness, peaceful coexistence, and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.

They noted Guyana’s assertion that it is committed to the process and procedures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the resolution of the border controversy as well as noting Venezuela’s assertion of its lack of consent and lack of recognition of the ICJ and its jurisdiction in the border controversy.

Guyana has maintained its position regarding the ownership of the Essequibo region which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens.

On December 3 last year, Caracas staged a referendum in which it said the majority of Venezuelans ratified “our rights over Guayana Esequiba are inalienable and unquestionable”.