Venezuela denounces Guyana's response to its concerns on Beal deal
The Venezuelan government has denounced Guyana's characterisation of its concern about the concession granted to Beal Aerospace Technologies as obstructionist and interventionist. On May 29, the Guyana government issued a statement in which it deplored the statements by Venezuela on the agreement it signed with Beal to establish a rocket launch site in the Waini as interference in its internal affairs. The Caracas statement dated May 31, said that "It concerns and displeases the Venezuelan People and Government, that the initiatives promoting foreign direct investment are directed mainly to the zone under claim, on which the Venezuelan State claims and will claim its possession, until achieving the practical and satisfactory solution foreseen in the Geneva Agreement." The statement added that Caracas "regrets that the Guyanese statement considers that Venezuela interferes in the internal affairs of Guyana, when what we look for is to preserve our rights in a territory under claim, in conformity with the Geneva Agreement, whose solution is promoted through the mechanism of the Good Offices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations." It noted too that "Venezuela traditionally has promoted and enlivened the development of regional and sub-regional integration, the eradication of poverty and unemployment, and, in consequence, it is willing to extend a fraternal hand to Guyana, in the achievement of its development objectives." The statement went on to say that "Venezuela yearns to maintain the most cordial relationship of co-operation and mutual respect with Guyana, and invites it to advance in such a sense, by means of the works of the High Level Bilateral Commission, and to propitiate the practical and satisfactory solution, to the controversy that we both expect." The Venezuelan government noted, said the release, that the Guyana government had not made reference to "the freely contracted commitment for both countries to the Geneva Agreement of 1966...[to] search [for] a practical and satisfactory solution to the territorial controversy that exists between the two countries." At a press conference on Friday, Foreign Minister, Clement Rohee refused to comment on the statement, telling reporters that he had no intention of conducting a dialogue in the media with his Venezuelan counterpart, Jose Vicente Rangel. He said too that he had accepted Rangel's invitation to meet to discuss this latest issue which Venezuela said could disrupt the friendly relations between the two countries. However, Rohee said that the meeting would not take place at the Organisation of American States Foreign Ministers' Meeting but would take place in due course. Stabroek News understands that the meeting is to take place next month.
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