GUYANESE welcomed Wednesday's disclosure that the Guyana and Barbados governments had signed an Exclusive Economic Zone Cooperation Treaty.
The Treaty, agreed to on December 2, 2003 after two years of back-and-forth negotiations, establishes a legal regime authorizing the two countries to exercise joint jurisdiction of the seabed, water column and airspace of the zone where these overlap beyond the 200 nautical mile limit of each other's maritime territory.
Guyanese see this as a major accomplishment in bilateral, sister-country cooperation especially now that Guyana has had to resort to seeking international community intervention in its maritime boundary dispute with neighboring Suriname.
But Guyanese are the only Caribbean citizenry elated over the signing of the Treaty between Barbados and Guyana. Barbadians share similar sentiments.
Here's how the Barbados Advocate sees the reaction of Bajans to the Treaty:
"News that Barbados and Guyana signed a maritime treaty almost three months ago to secure a common Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) would be welcomed by an overwhelming majority of this country's citizens who believe they have been stabbed in the back by another CARICOM partner.
"Throughout the past few weeks, and particularly since February 19 during a StarCom Network link-up with stations in Trinidad & Tobago, they showed themselves strongly protective of the political and territorial interests of this country. And we note a remarkable distinction between their loyalty and the attitude of some politicians who, while professing patriotism, were emphatically endorsing T&T's alleged jurisdiction over Barbados' economic zone.
"Barbadians may demur over absence of earlier information on the pact with Guyana, but T&T's infidelity might have prompted a certain degree of secrecy by Bridgetown and Georgetown.
"If there is one striking feature of the dispute between Barbados and T&T, it is that certain politicians in Barbados are rummaging for scraps to defend T&T's conduct. But they are heavily outnumbered, thank goodness.
"It is difficult to resist contrasting their carping criticisms with the support being given by T&T's foxy Opposition Leader, Mr. Basdeo Panday, to Prime Minister Mr. Patrick Manning.
"Concern in Port-of-Spain that Barbados may be winning the public relations battle over the T&T/Venezuela delimitation treaty has been heightened by Senator Robin Montano's shocking display of bad manners, when he joined last Thursday's link-up, hurling a gratuitous insult at Barbados' Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General.
"Much as T&T may sometimes be guilty of arrogance in its relationship with other CARICOM countries, we are fairly certain it will now be less than indifferent to the fact that Grenada, too, will be giving serious consideration to a perceived threat to its maritime economic space.
"This is inevitable in the light of Barbados' challenge to the T&T/Venezuela deal. Advice in this regard from at least two of the Spice Isle's legal luminaries, taken together with the signing last December of a Barbados/Guyana treaty on maritime boundaries, is certain to intensify pressure on the Manning administration.
"It must also count for something that whereas these agreements, or prospects thereto, are within the family of CARICOM members states, T&T has chosen to make common cause with an outsider that does not even subscribe to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"It is not only the so-called PR battle that Mr. Manning and his colleagues are losing. They are also rapidly losing ground on the moral front as well, but that would hardly impress people who think like the quick-tempered Montano. On the other hand, we believe it is a matter of sufficient import for politicians and their agents in Barbados to consider."