GUYANA is denying that it left its neighbour Venezuela in the dark about its plans to submit a claim for the extension of its continental shelf, in the wake of media reports in Venezuela calling for action. According to an article in Monday’s edition of the English online edition of El Universal, the Venezuelan Government promised to “continue advocating the country’s pivotal interests in the firmest manner by means of internationally established mechanisms of dialogue” and reasserted its commitment to the Good Offices of the UN General Secretariat with regard to the claim of Essequibo.
The report said that in a press release, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied to a report submitted by Guyana to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, according to which, “there are not relevant disputes on the region linked to this submission, related to the outside boundaries of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.” The article stated that as a result, the Venezuelan claim of Essequibo has been disregarded.
Based on the communiqué, the Venezuelan government, “received on September 7, 2011, an official notice that the government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana had submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf a presentation on the outer boundaries of Guyana’s continental shelf, within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, to which that country is a party.”
“The Bolivarian government, acting responsibly, has started to assess such an irregular situation to give a right answer under International Law, and it is taking the necessary action to preserve the law in its own right with regard to the extent of its maritime front.”
But a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Government of Guyana is aware of a communiqué that the Ministry of External Relations of Venezuela issued regarding Guyana’s submission of a claim to extend the continental shelf.
The Government of Guyana cited a Note Verbale dated May 13, 2009, where it was noted that the Venezuelan Embassy was provided with a copy of the Preliminary Information and Data which Guyana submitted to the United Nations Secretary General.
Guyana said that the documents constitute the Executive Summary of Guyana’s full submission on the limits of the continental shelf except for the fact that it has adjusted coordinates for the outer limits of the continental shelf. The ministry said that this was based on additional seismic data that were obtained after May 2009.
The Government of Guyana said it wishes to state that as was made pellucid in Guyana’s submission to the Commission on the outer limits of the continental shelf, Guyana’s submission of information and data pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is without prejudice to any future delimitation exercise with neighbouring states.
“The Communiqué from [Venezuela] recognises that fact since it declares that the submission of the Republic of Guyana does not prejudice eventual maritime delimitation between Guyana and Venezuela,” the Ministry in its statement said.
It said too that the Government of Guyana notes the Good Officer process of the United Nations Secretary General has a clear mandate. It said that the Government of Guyana values its relations with Venezuela and it is within this context that Guyana shared with that state the preliminary data in May 2009 and the full executive summary in 2010.
The Government of Guyana expressed the hope that this issue would not be allowed to adversely affect “the exceptionally good relations that exist between the Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”