Guyana reiterated its commitment to a peaceful settlement of its maritime border dispute with Suriname when that country raised the issue in an 11th hour bid at the just-concluded Caricom Inter-sessional meeting in St Kitts.
Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally told Stabroek News last night that when Suriname raised the issue it levelled a number of accusations at Guyana.
These, he said, were that Guyana had not given the bilateral approach enough room before moving to the arbitral tribunal process at the United Nations; that it did not allow the border commissions to do their work; that it had refused to sign a memorandum of understanding during the Caricom-facilitated negotiations in Jamaica that would have allowed for an arrangement for the exploitation of the resources of the disputed maritime area pending a resolution of the border dispute.
Insanally said in refuting the allegations Guyana reiterated that its move to the United Nations arbitral process was in keeping with the spirit of Caricom and the international community and was not an abandonment of the bilateral approach.
Also he said the Guyana delegation pointed out that in the bilateral negotiations Suriname had refused to consider all aspects of the issue and had requested information from Guyana without giving any guarantee of a similar request being reciprocated.
Suriname President Ronald Venetiaan, at a press conference earlier this month, told Surinamese reporters that Guyana had been asked to provide information about all the activities it had undertaken in the area including the licences it had issued to oil exploration companies.
Insanally said the Guyana delegation also circulated President Bharrat Jagdeo's broadcast to the nation on Wednesday, February 25, which outlined the reasons for Guyana moving to invoke the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.