CARICOM Heads hold lengthy caucus on Guyana/Suriname dispute Glimmer of hope for return of CGX's rig Joint exploitation on the table By Patrick Denny in Canouan Stabroek News July 5, 2000 Guyana and Suriname were due to hold crucial talks last night on the possible return of the CGX oil rig to its original drill site and the issue hinges on proposals for joint exploitation of the offshore area pending a final settlement of the maritime row. The talks were expected to get underway at the CARICOM Summit at 10 pm between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Suriname's President Jules Wijdenbosch with Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson acting as mediator. The proposal for joint exploitation had been put by Jagdeo to Suriname and the CARICOM Heads of Government at their summit being held at the Carenage Beach Resort and Golf Club in Canouan, St Vincent. The meeting of the two leaders with Patterson was the outcome of exhaustive discussions by the heads in caucus on the Guyana-Suriname border issue last evening; the second item on yesterday's agenda. The first item, the electoral events in Haiti, took the caucus to well after lunch, resulting in the cancellation of a number of tree-planting ceremonies. Two other topics slated for discussion in yesterday's session were not completed last night. Among the items on the agenda for the four-day summit, which ends today, were the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, Carifesta VII, economic threats to the region, implementation of the nine protocols amending the Treaty of Chaguaramas and the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice. President Jagdeo told reporters last evening that Suriname had indicated an inclination to support joint exploitation, but the details were yet to be agreed. Suriname, Jagdeo said, wanted to be the country issuing the licence for exploration to CGX. He said that this would be one of the issues to be discussed at last night's meeting. Guyana had previously rejected this option during the three rounds of talks in Port-of-Spain, Georgetown and Paramaribo on the dispute that mushroomed on June 3 after Surinamese gunboats chased away the CGX rig from Guyana's waters. It is understood that the joint exploitation proposals for discussions last night would include a sharing by the two countries of the proceeds from the Eagle drill site if oil in commercial quantities was found by CGX. This sharing would be without prejudice to either country's claim to the area. Suriname had previously balked at this offer in the three rounds of talks and had insisted that the oil rig discussions had to take place in the context of talks on the larger border dispute that has simmered between the two countries. Sources say Paramaribo's willingness to discuss joint exploitation last night signalled a shift in its stance. President Jagdeo told reporters that most of the heads had expressed strong support for the joint exploitation of the disputed area. As regards the use of force by Suriname to evict the CGX rig from Guyana's maritime jurisdiction, Jagdeo said he had told his colleagues that he was not interested in condemnation of Suriname, only in a resolution of the problem. Earlier, updating reporters on the progress of the talks, CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, had cautioned that a planned briefing by Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday, and Wijdenbosch was in danger of being cancelled as it was unlikely that any of the CARICOM Heads would want to leave the caucus while the Guyana-Suriname issue was on the table. At yesterday's caucus, Wijdenbosch was accompanied by his Natural Resources Minister, Errol Alibux. On Monday, President Jagdeo had objected to the presence in military garb of Colonel Jerry Slijngaard. Jagdeo had made it clear that he would have no discussions with Wijdenbosch if Slijngaard accompanied him in military regalia. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today