Dear Editor,
It is being promoted from our side of the border that Thursday’s ‘appropriate’ dialogue will focus on the maintaining of the zone of peace and respect for international law.
There has been no such corresponding outpouring from across the border to the west on its focus or thrust of the engagement (at least none I have seen).
Is President Ali going with one agenda and President Maduro another? Are they on the same page as to the purpose and outcome of the dialogue? Will there be a joint statement (Kingstown Accord 2023) at the conclusion or will each side issue its own statement on its take of the dialogue?
In other words will there be takeaways from this engagement to the mutual benefit of both countries and by extension, the region?
.We are told the talks are limited and ‘false expectations’ should not be encouraged. A certain outcome from any engagement is a natural expectation. But we should not set our hopes too high in this particular instance.
Time will tell if our expectations can yield a hopeful outcome.
Yours faithfully,
Shamshun Mohamed
