MINISTER of Foreign Affairs and Vice-President Carl Greenidge met with outgoing Secretary-General of the United Nations General Assembly Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday at UN Headquarters, New York.
Greenidge and the outgoing Secretary- General briefly reviewed the state of progress and developments on resolving the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela, A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
“Minister Greenidge took the opportunity to express his appreciation to Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon for his efforts in finding a solution to this controversy,” the statement said.
Additionally, the Foreign Affairs Minister expressed best wishes to Mr Ban on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana as he prepares to demit office.

Meanwhile, last week, President David Granger expressed much optimism that the outgoing United Nations Secretary- General will hold to his commitment to give “an assessment” of the next step to be taken in the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, and refer same to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a final and definitive ruling, thereby ending this controversy that has deeply affected Guyana’s development over the past 50 years.
During a radio interview with Gordon Moseley on 94.1FM Radio last Friday, the President said: “We have to hold Mr. Ban Ki-moon to his own words. The word he used was ‘an assessment’, of course, [and] November is quickly passing, so we expect Mr. Ban Ki-moon to fulfil his obligation to let us have ‘an assessment’.”
Guyana had approached the outgoing Secretary-General of the UN to act in accordance with his obligations under the Geneva Agreement — to choose another means of settling the border controversy between the two countries, in accordance with Article 33 of the UN Charter; and Mr. Ban had indicated that he would recommend the way forward before he demits office in December.

On the sidelines of the 71st United Nations General Assembly held in New York last September, outgoing Secretary -General Ban Ki-moon had told President Granger that he would make “an assessment” of the situation by the end of November.
“Of course, he is demitting office and Mr. (Antonio) Guterres is going to be the person to make decisions; and of course you know Guyana has (taken) a stand that (after) 50 years of talking, we need to go to the Court (International Court of Justice) and have this matter settled. This is what we expect, I won’t use the word hope; it is not a planning strategy. We have done our homework, relayed our case before the international community, and Mr. Ban Ki-moon is quite aware of the power he has — and Mr Guterres, [as do] all Secretaries-General of the UN — under the Geneva Agreement,” the President said.
The President also noted that Guyana is constrained from taking any action outside of the Geneva Agreement, and he stressed that a new path will have to be carved by the Secretary-General.
“We have exhausted all other courses, the one that is left is to go to the courts, and this is what we expect the Secretary- General to do,” President Granger added.