There is no treaty which allows right of access to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of any Caricom member state by another.
Responding on Friday to Barbados' announcement of trade sanctions against Trinidad and Tobago in the current maritime dispute between the two countries, Trinidad's Foreign Minister Knowlson Gift said that the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which Trinidad will continue to honour, confers no such right.
He said Trinidad had not demanded such right from the government of either Suriname or Guyana, although Trinidad and Tobago fishermen had expressed a desire to gain access to the resources of these two countries.
"It is for this reason that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has attempted, without success thus far, to negotiate access to the fisheries resources of Guyana for some of its fishermen," Gift said.
"A similar request to Suriname has also not borne fruit. Even as we will continue to pursue these approaches, we accept that our Caricom partners are exercising their sovereign prerogative. We expect them to respect ours as well."
Gift said his government was fully committed to protecting the rights of its citizens, and more so, those of the fisherfolk in Tobago. He said it therefore dismissed completely and unequivocally, the claim about historic fishing rights in Trinidad and Tobago's EEZ.
He said when Trinidad fishermen were arrested and fined for fishing illegally in Guyana's EEZ, his government had not taken the position that its fishermen have a right to fish in this country's EEZ. Nor has it been argued that the economic relationship between the states obliges Georgetown to conclude a fishing agreement with Port-of-Spain, he added.
Trinidad has instead advised its citizens of their obligation to respect the laws of other states and has sought to negotiate a fishing agreement on its own merits, without importing into those discussions any extraneous considerations, and it has conducted those discussions within the usual parameters permitted by diplomatic discourse.
Gift called it "revealing" that Guyana has never protested that the treaty prejudices its territorial integrity…" as claimed by Barbados. He said it was also revealing that Barbados accuses Trinidad and Tobago of having compromised the territorial integrity of Guyana, when in 1970 Trinidad's leader Dr Eric Williams, in a profound act of regional solidarity, ensured through the Port-of-Spain Accord, that Guyana's newly won independence was not held hostage to the territorial claim by Venezuela. "We have consistently maintained this position within the Councils of Caricom.
"The international community has had notice of the Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela Treaty since its registration in 1992 with the UN Secretariat, in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter. This treaty in no way prejudices the rights and interests of Guyana in respect of its maritime jurisdictions, nor does it encroach on maritime space to which Guyana or Barbados may legitimately lay claim."