A FORMER facilitator for the United Nations (UN) in the Guyana–Venezuela border controversy has been appointed the new Foreign Affairs Minister in Argentina and she has signalled her country’s intention to support a peaceful resolution to the ongoing issue. Ms Susana Malcorra, the former Cabinet Chief of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, was sworn in recently by President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires. She has visited Guyana for talks with President David Granger in relation to finding modalities for resolving the controversy raised by Venezuela’s false claim to Guyana’s territory.
While in Argentina for the inauguration of President Macri, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo met Ms Malcorra and congratulated her on her new appointment. Mr. Nagamootoo also exchanged views on the controversy with the newly appointed President of Uruguay, Tabare Vazquez, and President of Haiti, Michel Martelly. On the sidelines of the inauguration, the Prime Minister met with several other Heads of State, including the Presidents of Chile, Colombia and Paraguay, and with the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos Philippi. Nagamootoo said he is looking forward to closer cooperation between Guyana and Argentina, and to renewed bonds of friendship with all other states of South and Central America.
In an article in the Guyana Chronicle recently, Retired Diplomat Odeen Ishmael said Macri’s victory at the recent poll is evidence that support for leftist pro-socialist governments in the Union of South American States (UNASUR) is losing its momentum. Ishmael said countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, which had shown strong opposition to the United States and neoliberal capitalism, are facing economic challenges that negatively affect their influence among their own citizens and those of other countries in the continental bloc.
Additionally, he said, that Macri administration, no doubt, will continue to expand Argentina’s relations with other South American states, particularly those, like Guyana, with smaller economies. Relations between Guyana and Argentina have advanced relatively well ever since Argentina established its embassy in Georgetown in 2011. On May 22, 2014, the two countries announced an exchange programme on tourism training and management of protected areas, to be financed by the Argentine Fund for Horizontal Cooperation. Argentina also has provided cooperation to Guyana’s Protected Areas Commission (PAC), with proposed exchange visits of the commission’s representatives and those from the Argentina National Parks Administration (APN). The plan is be for the APN officials to provide technical assistance in the development, planning and management of protected areas within the framework of PAC’s 2012-2015 action plan.
Then, on June 5, 2014, the two countries entered into a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a consultative mechanism on matters of common interest. The memorandum provided for consultations on all aspects of the bilateral relationship, especially in the areas of political, economic, commercial, scientific, technical, environmental protection, educational and cultural cooperation, through meetings to be conducted at the level of ministers and senior officials.
More recently, on June 17, 2015, the Guyana Agriculture Minister and the Argentine ambassador discussed possible areas for collaboration centred on soil and post-harvest management, animal husbandry, research in agriculture biotechnology, value-added production, and marketing. It is now hoped that the new administration in Argentina, despite its planned cut-back on spending, will not curtail these cooperation activities, but will actively move to expand them.