The Belize–Guatemala and Guyana-Venezuela border issues were among agenda items discussed at the recent Caricom summit, according to a communique yesterday from the St Vincent meeting.
The Heads of Government noted that Guyana and Venezuela had initiated dialogue following a Venezuelan armed naval vessel’s detention on 10 October 2013, of the RV Teknik Perdana seismic vessel, which was under contract with Anadarko to conduct a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone.
They also noted that the foreign ministers of both countries met in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 17 October 2013 and had agreed that the two countries would explore mechanisms within the context of international law to address maritime delimitation. Their technical teams were to meet within four months to exchange views on how such delimitation could proceed but the Venezuelan government had requested a postponement of the technical meeting as a result of the political situation in that country.
The Heads acknowledged that despite this incident, Guyana and Venezuela had continued to maintain stable and satisfactory relations.
They reiterated their support for the maintenance of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guyana and took note of the continued confidence that both States have in the Good Offices Process of the United Nations Secretary-General under the Geneva Agreement of 1966 with the re-appointment in October 2013 of Professor Norman Girvan as the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General in that Process.
