Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to establish a joint working group early in January 2008 to recommend measures and mechanisms to prevent incidents such as the November 15, 2007 incursion into Guyana’s territory by a Venezuelan military contingent.
It is expected that once the mechanisms have been agreed to that the two would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the concurrence of both governments. The objective will be to establish forms of cooperation to maintain security and stability in the border areas.
The two have also agreed to resuscitate the UN Secretary General’s Good Officer Procedure to deal with the issue of the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy; and to meet bilaterally at the Guyana-Venezuela High Level Commission in March next year.
In a statement to the National Assembly yesterday on Venezuela’s response to Guyana’s diplomatic note on the border incursion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanally stated that the Foreign Affairs Ministry was in the process of analyzing the response to determine whether it adequately addresses and satisfies Guyana’s concerns.
He said that at the end of the analysis “a decision will be taken on any necessary follow-up action.”
Venezuela’s response was delivered by Vice Minister with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rodolfo Sanz, who Insanally said explained that the incident, which involved the destruction of two mining dredges in the Cuyuni River by the military contingent, “was an apparently unintended consequence of an exercise which had been undertaken by the Venezuelan government to remove a number of illegal miners – many of them Brazilian, Guyanese, and Venezuelan – who were operating in their riverain areas and causing serious damage to the environment.”
He said that he saw photos of some of the destruction to the environment in those areas.
After some discussions between the five-member Venezuelan delegation led by Sanz and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation, Insanally said that both sides agreed that the joint working group would be set up early in January 2008 to recommend measures and mechanisms to obviate the recurrence of such incidents.
As reported earlier, he said that Sanz expressed the Venezuelan government’s regrets that the incident took place and assured Guyana “that it was not its policy to condone such actions towards a ‘sister nation’.”
Insanally also noted that he met with representatives of the PPP/C, the PNCR, the AFC and GAP-ROAR to brief them on the latest developments on the issues.
He announced too that the two sides also agreed to resuscitate the Good Officer Procedure of the UN Secretary General which was suspended as a result of the death of Guyana’s representative in the process, Barbadian, Oliver Jackman.
He said it was felt that the Good Officer Procedure was a useful instrument in the common search for a peaceful solution to the Guyana/ Venezuela territorial controversy.
Both countries would now consult with the aim of nominating a suitable replacement for Jackman.
Insanally noted that they also agreed at the level of the Guyana/Venezuela High Level Commission, which had been in abeyance, to meet in March next year to review a concrete programme in areas of cooperation.
This would include preparations for a visit by President Bharrat Jagdeo to Venezuela at the invitation of President Hugo Chavez.
