THE consensus of all who’ve followed the latest flare-up sparked by Venezuela’s most recent claim to more than half of Guyana and the Caracas administration’s various related statements and actions that included redrawing Venezuela’s map to include Guyana’s Essequibo region, which has always been part of the Co-operative Republic, was that something needs to be done – and quickly.

Presidents Dr Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro arrived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines with respective air-tight national positions that neither budged on, but having agreed to meet was the very first step towards the necessary dialogue.

The two presidents met in the presence of fellow CARICOM and Latin American (CELAC) leaders, including CARICOM Chairman Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, as well as the Prime Ministers of The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as a special envoy and personal adviser of Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio ‘Lula’ Da Silva, who joined Dr Ralph Gonsalves and PM Skerrit as Interlocutors.

Attending as observers were two high-ranking representatives of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Colombia and Honduras.

Under the chairmanship of St. Vincent’s Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, the leaders met for several hours in sessions that first agreed on the agenda and modalities for the meeting and saw the Guyana and Venezuela leaders shake hands for the first time – itself a symbolic but important gesture.

The discussions ended with the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela (which is what the meeting was about), in which the two leaders have committed to, among many other things:

• Not threaten or use force against each other
• Resolve any related controversies under international law
• Pursue good neighbourliness, peaceful coexistence and unity
• Note the differences of the two nations on the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
• Continue dialogue on any other pending matters of mutual importance; and
• Refrain from escalating, by words or deeds, any conflict or disagreement arising between them

The two leaders agreed too, to establish a joint commission of Foreign Ministers and technical persons, to address related matters and report to the two presidents in three months; and to meet in Brazil within that time, or any other time agreed.

The Joint Declaration is a wholesome reflection of the maturity of Caribbean diplomacy that saw the region’s leaders take early steps, together, in CARICOM and CELAC, to reduce and avoid tensions, to bring the two leaders to the table and invite regional interlocutors and observers from the UN.

That all of this happened within 11 days of the first weekend of the last month of 2023 when the ICJ statement and Venezuela’s Referendum (December 1 and December 3, respectively), is a signal achievement that would certainly have taken longer to happen if only left to the usual traditional international mediators.

The Argyle Summit started off originally as a bilateral one between two Presidents, but evolved almost overnight into an international event involving CARICOM and CELAC leaders – and it ended with the start of the dialogue process that, a fortnight earlier, was furthest from anyone’s mind — underlines the ability of the region to address its problems and to find ways and means to keep talking.

The two sides will meet again as scheduled or as necessary — and until then, it is safe to conclude that all’s well that starts and ends well.

Now for the words and actions, of which Guyana is very clear, in pursuit of continuing peaceful coexistence.