President hopes for peaceful resolution of border controversy
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, (CANA) - President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that he holds out hope for a peaceful resolution of the border controversy with Venezuela despite worrying signals coming from the Spanish-speaking country. "Both Guyana and Venezuela have committed themselves to seeking a resolution to the controversy through the office of the Secretary General of the United Nations," he said here Tuesday. "It has come to my attention that President Hugo Chavez on a number of occasions has indicated that he will seek a peaceful resolution to this controversy, so that is the position we have been working on and our position has not changed", he said. The controversy results from an award by an international tribunal in October 1899 that demarcated the border as it now exists. Venezuela has been making claims to two-thirds of Guyana's 83,000 square miles that covers most of the mineral rich areas of the Essequibo region. The latest tension in border relations arose earlier this month when Venezuela used the occasion of the centenary of the arbitration tribunal award, to reiterate its claim to the lands apportioned to Guyana. President Jagdeo said that during the recent UN General Assembly in New York, the foreign ministers of both countries met and discussed the border issue in the presence of Secretary General Kofi Annan where they reaffirmed their commitment to finding a resolution. Mr. Jagdeo, speaking here at the special meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government, is also seeking an endorsement from leaders of the 15-member regional trade and economic grouping on a resolution passed in Grenada earlier this month by the Association of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP). Guyana has also briefed the Organisation of American States (OAS) on the border issue.
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