BRASILIA, Brazil, CMC – Guyana and Venezuela foreign ministers have ended a meeting here as part of the efforts for a second round of talks between the two countries’ leaders over their existing border dispute.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil, and the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira met, and following the deliberations, Georgetown and Caracas agreed to continue the engagements, particularly on common issues like crime and climate change.
“For Guyana and Venezuela, there is continuity in our efforts, and that is why I have asked my dear colleague and friend (Minister Gil) for us to start working on the next meeting on building on what we have already started,” Todd told reporters.
“We’re going back to headquarters Georgetown to continue working on advancing neighborly relations to the west with support from our neighbor to the south, Brazil,” he added.
But Todd said while the two countries are seeking to advance cooperation, the existing border dispute remains before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“We are cognizant of the fact that we have a matter that is unresolved but is properly before the ICJ,” he said, adding, “… even though the court will pronounce, we still have to work together.”
Presidents Dr. Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro held their first high-level meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines last December over the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute and the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela, issued afterward noted that the leaders 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 would 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 update mentioned above of the joint commission.”
Guyana said it remains fully committed to the principles of the Argyle Declaration, notably the maintenance of peace in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the two leaders said they are committed to the pursuit of good neighborliness, peaceful coexistence, and unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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 most Venezuelans ratified that “our rights over Guayana Esequiba are inalienable and unquestionable.”
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