Caribbean MPs pass resolution supporting Guyana's position
The Second Session of the Assembly of Caribbean Parliamentarians which met last week in Grenada passed a resolution reiterating its unwavering support for, and solidarity with Guyana in the face of the border controversy with Venezuela. The resolution also called for the sentiments expressed therein to be communicated to the Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government. Guyana was represented at the Assembly meeting by a three-man delegation led by Local Government Minister, Clinton Collymore with Education Minister, Dr Dale Bisnauth and People's National Congress back-bencher, Andy Gouveia as the other members of the delegation. The resolution noted too the firm support of the CARICOM member states for Guyana's territorial integrity and sovereignty and their stated desire for a peaceful settlement to the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela. The resolution noted that Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo region "disregards the fact that the existing boundary was defined by the unanimous judgement of an international arbitration tribunal given in Paris in 1899, and jointly demarcated on the ground by officials of the United Kingdom and Venezuela and accepted thereafter by the international community as both the de jure and de facto boundary between Guyana and Venezuela." It noted the establishment of a Mixed Commission under the 1966 Geneva Agreement as a result of Venezuela's assertion that the 1899 Arbitral Award was null and void and the subsequent referral to the United Nations for it to determine a mutually acceptable means of settling the dispute when the Mixed Commission set up under the agreement had failed in its efforts to find a satisfactory solution. The resolution also noted "that the relations between the two countries have been conducted over recent years in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect and through the development of programmes of functional co-operation."
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