PRESIDENT David Granger will be pushing for a final resolution to the ongoing Guyana/Venezuela border controversy at the 71st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.The annual meeting of 193 countries officially opened on Tuesday at the UN’s headquarters in New York and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge is already in New York, laying the groundwork, Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon told a post- cabinet media briefing Thursday.
According to Harmon, President Granger will be accompanied by a delegation which will have the primary focus of dealing with the Guyana/Venezuela controversy, given the fact that Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, is slated to demit office in November.
“Therefore, it is important for us to try and get a decision out of the Secretary- General about a means by which the controversy can be finally resolved. As you’re aware, Guyana has taken the position that the matter is a legal one and it should be dealt with at the legal level; a judicial settlement is what we’re looking for and therefore the delegation will be trying to press home that position of Guyana,” Harmon said.
President Granger has already indicated to the United Nations Secretary-General that the process of talks has been worn out and that it is time for a final legal settlement to Venezuela’s claim that the arbitral award of 1899 which settled the countries’ borders is null and void. Guyana’s position was laid out when Granger met Mr Ban in the presence of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in September 2015. Since then, the UN has sent two teams to Guyana to move the process further.