The legal representatives of the Guyana and Suriname governments are to meet again next week to continue their discussions about the three arbitrators for the arbitration panel to adjudicate the maritime boundary dispute.
The meeting will take place in London. The teams met last week in Hamburg, Germany, with the chairman of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally explained that as a result of that meeting the two sides have a clearer idea as to how the process would proceed.
Guyana in February referred their long-standing maritime boundary dispute with Suriname to the United Nations for a legally binding resolution under article 287 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Guyana is being represented by a legal team headed by former Attorney General Sir Shridath Ramphal and Suriname is being represented by the legal firm of Clavard, Swain and Moore. Professors Frank Smith and Hans Smit are the arbitrators named respectively by Guyana and Suriname and together with the legal teams of the two governments they will name three others, one of whom will chair the panel.
The Guyana government moved to invoke the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea process after being unable to reach agreement with the Suriname government on an appropriate arrangement that would allow for the joint exploration and exploitation of the natural resources of the disputed area pending a settlement of the border dispute.