GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Canada’s Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussein on Sunday reaffirmed his country’s support for Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and highlighted that Canada looks forward to a “peaceful” and “diplomatic” settlement of the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy.
“We in Canada and the Canadian Government (are) concerned with the ongoing tensions between Guyana and Venezuela. We stand with the government and call for international law’s respect.
“Please rest assured that Canada supports Guyana’s territorial integrity. And, as in any dispute, we look forward to a peaceful and diplomatic settlement,” Minister Hussen said on Sunday.
Minister Hussen is visiting Guyana for the first time. He traveled with the country’s Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas, Glen Linder.
Hussein made these remarks at signing a sovereign loan program agreement between Guyana and Canada on Sunday morning.
The Government of Canada made similar statements last year when Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, met his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
That meeting was brokered following rising tensions between the two sides after Venezuela pursued a referendum that involved Guyana’s Essequibo region.
The border controversy between Guyana and Essequibo is decades old. The boundary, as internationally recognized, was settled in 1899 through an Arbitral Award. It was accepted by Venezuela and Guyana (then British Guiana) until the 1960s as Guyana approached its independence.
A political mechanism known as the 1966 Geneva Agreement was set up to resolve the controversy, but after decades of talks failed, the United Nations Secretary-General referred the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the UN’s principal judicial organ.
Guyana hopes the Court will provide a final, binding judgment that reaffirms the borders and that the Essequibo region is its own.
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