…Venezuelan Infractions high on agenda at N.Y. Foreign Ministers confab

THE 53 country bloc of Commonwealth Nations, “stands as one and speaks with one voice in our commitment to Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

This was the strong message communicated by Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, following his arrival in Guyana yesterday.

Sharma was at the time making reference to the recent territorial threats made over Guyana’s western and northern jurisdictions including its offshore Exclusive Economic Zone.

According to Mr. Sharma, “We are an association of 53 member states worldwide accounting for one quarter of the United Nations membership…Commonwealth member Governments, individually and collectively, are also committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes and to the rule of law.”
The Commonwealth Secretary General is slated to meet with key Government functionaries during his brief visit to Guyana. In a statement issued to the Chronicle yesterday, Mr. Sharma stated: “There have been recent developments including a claim by a neighbouring country over Guyana’s land and maritime areas, and the Commonwealth has moved swiftly and appropriately in collective solidarity with Guyana.”

He informed too that all of the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers have been kept informed of the development regarding Guyana and Venezuela.

The Secretary-General has convened the Commonwealth Ministerial Group on Guyana, which is now scheduled to meet in New York in September.
The Guyana/Venezuela situation has also been placed on the agenda of the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting, which is also taking place in New York in September.

At the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in Sri Lanka in 2013, the Commonwealth leaders, “…reaffirmed their unequivocal support for the maintenance and preservation of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“The Commonwealth remains steadfast in its support for the Government and people of Guyana,” the Secretary-General concluded.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in May of this year, signed a Presidential Decree claiming Guyana’s Essequibo along with its continental offshore; unilaterally seek to usurp control over sovereign territory.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Vice President Carl Greenidge, on the first sitting of the 11th Parliament recently, lambasted the Venezuelan Government over what he called a “shameless”, “baseless” and downright “illegal” claim to Essequibo and its Atlantic Shelf.

Following Minister Greenidge’s reaffirmation of Guyana’s sovereignty over the Essequibo Region and its corresponding Atlantic Shelf, the Venezuelan Government said it “welcomes the recent statements by Guyanese Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge”, who assured that Guyana “has decided to benefit from the joint 1966 Geneva Agreement.”

Guyana and Venezuela have both inked the United Nations’ 1966 Geneva Agreement, which allows for arbitration by the UN Secretary General in disputes between states.
The Guyana Foreign Affairs Ministry is of the position “that contrary to Venezuela’s recent restatement of events, the statement by Minister Greenidge to Parliament on Thursday, June 10, 2015, made it clear that it is Venezuela’s claim of nullity of the 1889 Arbitral Award which is the root of the problem, and which has to be resolved under the procedures provided for in the Geneva Agreement.”
Minister Greenidge has said, “Finality in this matter by due process of international law as proposed by Guyana will be a gift to future generations in both countries.”