…as President Granger attends to national matters

VICE President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge will lead a high-level delegation to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA73) set to commence at the UN Headquarters in New York from September 18.

For the first time since assuming office in May, 2015, President David Granger will not attend the UN General Assembly. According to Minister Greenidge, the President opted not to attend the high-level meeting in New York because he plans to focus on developments unfolding in his homeland.

“The President of course has to, in normal circumstances, weigh the time he can spare for all the different demands on his time, and in view of the other things that are unfolding including Local Government Elections, he has decided that he will not be able to spare the time to travel,” the Foreign Affairs Minister explained during a press conference on Monday.
While the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly will open on September 18, 2018, the Annual General Debate will start on Tuesday September 25 under the theme “Making the United Nations relevant to all people: Global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies.”

On the sideline of the UN General Assembly, Minister Greenidge is expected to meet with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres to discuss the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy and recent developments following his decision to refer the more than a century-old border controversy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The high-level delegation, led by Minister Greenidge, will also engage in bilateral talks with member states from across the globe, particularly those from Latin America, Europe, and Africa. The high-level team is also expected to engage officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat and other international institutions.

Also on the sideline, discussions will be held on the Contonou Agreement, which is set to expire in 2020. Minister Greenidge, who first served as a member of the Negotiating Troika for Lomé III in 1983 when he was Minister of Finance of Guyana, is deputy to the Chief Negotiator, representing the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) in the post- Contonou negotiations.

“The significance of the Contonou is something I always emphasise because it is the main source of concessional funding to the Caribbean,” Minister Greenidge told reporters.
The 79 ACP Member States have agreed to a draft negotiating mandate as a collective group and to seek a legally-binding arrangement with the European Union that builds on the current Agreement. The new agreement is expected to take account of the issues of middle income countries, small island developing states (SIDS), least developed countries and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs).