THE United Nations Secretary General’s Personal Representative on the Guyana – Venezuela border controversy, Ambassador Dag Halvor Nylander has arrived here and met with President David Granger last evening at State House.

A release from the Ministry of the Presidency confirmed that Mr Nylander and his delegation met with the President and other government officials; however details pertaining to the discussion were not revealed by the Ministry.

It was noted that other members of the high-level delegation were Mr. Guillermo Kendall of the UN Department of Political Affairs, Mr. David Hutchinson from the UN Office of Legal Affairs and Mr. Juan Jeannet-Acre from the Policy and Mediation Division in the Department of Political Affairs.  They were accompanied by acting UN Resident Coordinator and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Country Director, Mr. Martin Odiit.

Accompanying the President at the meeting, were Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Carl Greenidge; Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon; Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela Guyana’s, Ambassador Cheryl Miles; Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Audrey Waddell; foreign policy expert, Sir Shridath Ramphall; in the role of Advisor and Legal Consultant, Professor Payam Akhavan.

Mr. Nylander, a Norwegian Diplomat, was appointed by the UN’s Secretary-General (SG), António Guterres in February of this year to facilitate the Good Officers Process in brokering a deal to settle the border controversy between the two neighbouring states.

Last week, Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Michael Ten-Pow disclosed that Mr. Nylander would visit Caracas before visiting Georgetown. Ambassador Ten-Pow had explained that this was because the UN envoys in previous missions would have visited Georgetown before going to Caracas. “I think in previous missions of the UN, they came first to Guyana and then to Venezuela. Now this time it’s going to be Venezuela first, followed by Guyana,” he noted.

The Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN said too that the Norwegian Diplomat’s visit forms part of his plan of action.

“He has a plan of action, and this first visit corresponds to the first phase of that plan, which is basically to listen to the two parties.”

But although Guyana had been calling for a settlement through the Netherlands-based International Court of Justice (ICJ), President David Granger had said that the appointment of Ambassador Nylander is a positive move.

“We are confident that the appointee can do his job and we will abide by the Terms of Reference and the conditions that have been laid down by the United Nations’ Secretary-General,” the President had said.

The President noted too that Guyana will continue to engage the UN through confidence-building measures, while at the same time, doing whatever is possible to advance the process to enable the SG to make a decision about the juridical course of action requested by the country.

Mr. Nylander will conduct the Good Offices Process on behalf of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and will actively engage the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela with a view to exploring and proposing options for a solution to the border controversy. If, by the end of 2017, the Secretary-General concludes that no significant progress has been made toward arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy, he will choose the ICJ as the next means of settlement, unless the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela jointly request of him to refrain from doing such.

Mr. Nylander was the Norwegian Special Envoy to the Colombia peace process (2012-2016) and served as Norway’s Head of Mission in Bogota, Colombia (2006-2008). Mr. Nylander was a delegate of his country before the United Nations in New York (2001-2004), and at the Norwegian Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999-2001).

The border controversy, which dates back to the early 19th century, escalated in 2015 after a significant oil find was announced in an offshore concession granted by Guyana. Venezuela claims that the area being drilled is in disputed waters, while that country has also laid claims to Essequibo – a county which constitutes two-thirds of Guyana.

A ruling had been made on the disputed territory in 1899 in favour of Guyana and although Venezuela had representatives at that meeting, the President of that country, Niolas Maduro, in 2015, declared the ruling null and void.