The minister, who also visited Venezuela recently, told reporters that the talks were generally about enhancing bilateral relations and covered a wide agenda, including security matters and the problems of drug trafficking.

He said they also assessed the progress made in joint boundary inspections, and the process of restoring markers which had been displaced.

The eventual aim of that exercise could be very important to the overall border position in the sense that it could impact on and will be related to the position of the countries on the tri-junction point, he said.

The Foreign Minister said it was a very useful exercise. The parties are about to go into the second stage to continue the exercise which has so far been progressing very satisfactorily, he added.

According to Insanally, they also talked about creating facilities at Bon Fin in Brazil and at Lethem to improve Customs and Immigration services.

He said that will be done and Guyana is scheduled to open an Honorary Consulate in Boa Vista later this month.

The two sides also had in-depth discussions on the Amazonian Treaty among South American countries, the minister said, noting that there will be a ministerial meeting very soon in Brazil at which it will be agreed that that country become the full time secretariat for that treaty. The minister feels that cooperation under this umbrella will progress.

He said they also had a "good session" of discussion on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) where Guyana put forward its position that unless it had special and differential treatment, among other things, it cannot benefit from the proposed pact.

He said this country was able to win sympathy for the problems in the Caribbean.

Minister Insanally said a memorandum of understanding was signed which provides for such consultations on a regular basis and he suggested that they meet more at a regional level.

The sides also established in Brazil a Guyana/Brasilia Friendship Society which will help considerably to improve Guyana's image throughout Brazil and which will be an important auxiliary to the efforts of the Guyana Embassy, he said.

In terms of his visit to Venezuela, he said there were also several very important discussions with officials there and he met President Hugo Chavez with whom he discussed matters of common concern.

Among the main matters discussed were the United Nations Good Officer procedure on the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy with regards to the difficulties encountered.

He said the facilitators have not met for a while and it was decided that to expedite things, the Foreign Ministers would meet with the Secretary General of the UN before the year ends.

There were some recent incidents regarding fishing matters and the minister said it was also decided that they would not let these matters get out of hand but will establish whatever measures are necessary to improve communication so there is no more misunderstanding.

He suggested that the two countries work towards devising some form of bilateral treaty that would bring understanding on all sides on how to treat these issues so as not to destroy fundamental relations.

"...and I would like to think that it extends not only to Venezuela but to other CARICOM (Caribbean Community) countries like Trinidad," he stated.

He pointed out that it was not an issue that was the source of any friction but that they had very comprehensive discussions on the matter.

Asked why Guyana would want to venture into talks with Venezuela in terms of fishing boundaries in the Essequibo given the fact that Venezuela has laid claims to that area, the minister said he did not see why the countries "that are adjacent to each other" cannot have an agreement to avoid incidents of fishing in each other's territory.

He stressed that there could be some agreement on the management of the exploration and how fisheries exploitation is managed.