(TODAY) Guyana and Suriname will be engaged in an exercise to resolve a burning dispute on economic relations that perhaps Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados need to pay attention to in terms of what they should also be doing about an old controversy over fishing rights.

The meeting (today) in the Surinamese capital, Paramaribo, of both the Guyana-Suriname Co-operation Council and the National Border Commissions of the two Caricom neighbours on the South American continent, is a sharp and welcome contrast to the jingoistic posturings of two years ago over an oil drilling operation in the Suriname-Guyana basin by a Canadian-owned company, CGX.

At that time, Suriname became the first Caricom member State to violate the letter and spirit of the Caricom Treaty when it resorted to force in the resolution of a dispute with Guyana, by use of gunboats to compel CGX to remove its oil rig from the Corentyne River that separates the two neighbouring States.

The Canadian company had been granted a licence in 1998 by Guyana to carry out its oil drilling operation in an area of some 15,464 square kilometres and said to have deposits of more than 800 million barrels of oil.

But Suriname, then under the Jules Wijdenbosch presidency that was facing escalating internal controversies from labour unions and political opponents, claimed that the licence was an infringement of its territorial jurisdiction and opted initially for a militaristic rather than a diplomatic course.

With a change in government and the return to the presidency of Ronald Venetiaan, and with a more conducive climate of good neighbourliness prevailing in both Paramaribo and Georgetown, the Guyana capital, there have been meetings at diplomatic and ministerial levels designed to foster co-operation for cultural, trade and economic relations.

At the height of the hostility over the forced removal of the CGX's oil rig and the cessation of oil exploration operations pending a resolution to the conflict, Caricom Heads of Government, including the then President Wijdenbosch, were involved in efforts for a peaceful settlement.

President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana and his Surinamese counterpart, Venetiaan, have since met at international fora and have developed a noticeably warm personal relationship. This has contributed to a series of initiatives at the levels of technocrats, diplomats and Foreign Ministers to engage in dialogue with a view to laying the foundation for possible joint pursuit of long-term economic goals, such as oil exploration in the Guyana-Suriname basin.

If such discussions should prove successful, and the idea of joint oil exploration and shared economic benefits is advanced, they would clearly have a positive impact also on the work of the national commissions dealing with the age-old territorial dispute.

This in turn could influence a more favourable mood in Caracas and Georgetown as Venezuela and Guyana continue their dialogue on finding a practical resolution to their 19th century territorial row over Guyana's Essequibo region.

For its part, Trinidad and Tobago needs to exercise some new initiative with Barbados to get back on track negotiations to resolve the recurring rows over fishing rights.

After the recent unseemly verbal entanglements by both Bridgetown and Port-of-Spain, it may be worthwhile seeking the assistance of the respected former diplomat, Reginald Dumas, in any new engagement with the Barbadians. For one thing, he was the last High Commissioner we had in Barbados for the Eastern Caribbean and is quite respected within Caricom circles.

As it is between Guyana and Suriname, so it must be for Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, finding creative ways to resolve old problems and build new relationships in the spirit of good neighbourliness.
(Reprinted from yesterday's Trinidad Guardian)