Guyana to approach Suriname on border talks
- Insanally
Stabroek News
January 9, 2004
Guyana will try to re-engage Suriname in talks to resolve the long running border dispute between the two countries, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rudy Insanally said yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference, Insanally said although negotiations had encountered "hiccups" since June, the country would seek to resume dialogue between the two Guyana/Suriname Border Commissions.
He said the breakdown of talks was due to the failure of the representatives, at the conclusion of their negotiations, to agree on the content of a communiqué.
This was because of what he described as a difference of interpretation on some issues.
Although he noted that there were other options available, Insanally believes that the dialogue is the only forum to settle the problems.
"We have not abandoned the process," and he said he would broach the subject with his Surinamese counterpart at the Summit of the Americas in Mexico next Monday.
Only recently, President Bharrat Jagdeo said he was getting impatient with the lack of progress in the talks.
The meetings were reactivated last year following Jagdeo's visit to Suriname with the mandate of setting in motion the resolution of the maritime and territorial border disputes.
They were asked, among other things, to look at best practices for joint exploration of the marine and hydrocarbon resources in the disputed area located off the Corentyne Coast.
The proposal for joint exploration was raised by Guyana in the aftermath of Suriname's ejection of an oil rig working for the Canadian company CGX Resources, which had been licensed to explore for oil off the Corentyne coast, from its drilling position in Guyana's territorial waters on June 3, 2000.