The persons who will form the joint commission to be established under the Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela are in the process of being selected, as Takuba Lodge hailed Thursday’s meeting in St Vincent and the Grenadines as “mutually beneficial.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd told Stabroek News yesterday that preparations will immediately begin to form the team for the commission and that they will also be attending the meeting to be held within three months in Brazil’s capital of Brasília.
This newspaper understands that President Irfaan Ali will soon hold a press conference on the meeting held last Thursday at the Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the historic face-to-face meeting between Ali and Nicolás Maduro, amid a bitter row over Venezuela’s efforts to seize Guyana’s Essequibo County, the President had made it “clear” to his Venezuelan counterpart, that no activity whatsoever, including joint initiatives would be allowed in the 160,000-square kilometre Essequibo area without this country’s approval.
Both sides agreed not to use force against each other in any circumstance, a key development for Georgetown in the light of months of tension over Caracas’ staging of a referendum on Essequibo and its subsequent decision to annex the county which makes up five-eighths of this country.
The presidents had held a series of talks before final approval of an 11-point joint declaration which said that they both “Agreed that Guyana and Venezuela, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two States.”
Hammered out in the presence of high-level interlocutors including host, Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves; Celso Amorim, special envoy of the Brazilian President; and Dominican Prime Minster Roosevelt Skerrit, the two leaders also agreed that any controversies between the two states would be settled in accordance with international law including the Geneva Agreement of February 17, 1966.
Noted in the Joint Declaration was this country’s assertion that it is committed to the process and procedures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the resolution of the border controversy. Also noted was Venezuela’s assertion of its lack of consent and lack of recognition of the ICJ and its jurisdiction in the border controversy.
In the presence of other previously unannounced invitees including Colombia’s Foreign Minister, Alvaro Leyva Durán, the two Presidents also agreed to continue dialogue on any other pending matters of mutual importance to the two countries.
Also agreed at the cavernous Argyle Airport was that both States will refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from any controversy between them.
“The two States will cooperate to avoid incidents on the ground conducive to tension between them. In the event of such an incident the two States will immediately communicate with one another, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC), and the President of Brazil to
contain, reverse and prevent its recurrence,” the declaration stated.
Both States also agreed that Prime Minister Gonsalves, the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC; Prime Minister Skerrit, the incumbent CARICOM Chairman; and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil; will remain seized of the matter as Interlocutors and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres as Observer, with the ongoing agreement of Presidents Ali and Maduro. For the avoidance of doubt, Prime Minister Gonsalves’ role will continue even after St Vincent ceases to be the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC, within the framework of the CELAC Troika plus one; and Prime Minister Skerrit’s role will continue as a member of the CARICOM Bureau.
Both countries 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 of the joint commission.
‘No dispute’
However, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said that President Ali should not have allowed the word “dispute” to make up the language of the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela, because it can connote that this country agrees to that word’s meanings, a wrong signal given that the issue has been resolved since 1899.
“The first problem I have is the use of the word dispute. In every debate I have been in the parliament, I made it very clear that the border was settled by then 1899 Arbitral Award and therefore there is no dispute. Venezuela made a spurious claim and they have never provided any evidence to substantiate the claim. And so, in our opinion the Arbitral Award of 1899 stands and the Guyana Venezuela border has already been defined since 1899.
“The agreement in my opinion is the result of a flawed process of the Ali Administration,” he told the Stabroek News.
“The fact that there is an agreement to non-aggression, ensuring there is peace in the Latin American region and there is some amount of action that has been taken to deescalate the tension that is a positive for Guyana. But unfortunately, the other diplomatic work that should have been done was not done and so you have an agreement that compromises our position by talking about a dispute. In that sense, we are concerned. We believe there should be no situation where you have that kind of language in the agreement and we consider it a function of the incompetence of the government and that they would have destroyed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he added.
He believes that “the kind of loose language that would have appeared in that document would not have happened because the professionals would have studied it.”
“It would not have arrived at a summit of leaders because the senior officials; the Minister of Foreign Affairs… would have agreed that, after lengthy discussions and putting it through the intellectual crucible, ensure that we have we what we wanted.”
He said that any language used in especially diplomatic agreements have to be cautiously studied because one word could change a meaning and thus it must be “in consonance with our interest.”
As this country prepares the members for the team of the Joint Commission, Norton said that he would advise that experts overlook every aspect of proposals so there not be a repeat of language usage not in line with this country’s interests.
“There should not just be a meeting in three months to have a meeting in three months. There must be a process to ensure that there are proper negotiations and by the time you arrive at the level of the Head of the State and you are prepared to sign to something that is reflective of the interest of Guyana,” he said.
“You cannot have foreign policy in which the president signs before the technical and other competent persons did their work and the president agreed to what the president should have signed, and that is the major problem,” he added.
He asserted that in St. Vincent, the President agreed that “Without the requisite technical expertise that is needed to ensure there is the exactitude of language that you want to reflect your position.”
