CARICOM Foreign Ministers have welcomed Venezuela’s decision to receive a United Nations Technical team which will provide recommendations to the UN Secretary-General on the way forward to a full and final solution to the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy.

The Council for Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (COFCOR) met in the margins of this week’s 70th Session of The United Nations General Assembly in New York, and was briefed by Guyana’s Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Carl Greenidge on the recent developments with respect to the territorial controversy with Venezuela. The Ministers noted that the decision by CARACAS to receive the UN Team in the shortest possible time will hasten the efforts aimed at bringing that controversy to an early end.

The Ministers welcomed Sunday’s meeting convened by the UN Secretary-General with the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela and noted that Venezuela’s decision to return its ambassador to Guyana and to grant agreement to the Ambassador Designate of Guyana to Venezuela would set a firm basis for the return of full-fledged diplomatic relations between Guyana and Venezuela.

The Ministers noted Guyana’s call for a juridical solution to the controversy, given the divergence of views between the two sides about the validity and nullity of the Arbitral award of 3rd October 1899. They  underscored the need for the Caribbean region to be maintained as a Zone of Peace.

See full COFCOR Statement:

COFCOR STATEMENT ON THE GUYANA/VENEZUELA CONTROVERSY

 The Council for Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (COFCOR) met in the margins of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.  The Ministers received a briefing from the Honourable Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Mr. Carl B. Greenidge, on the recent developments with respect to the territorial controversy with Venezuela.

The Ministers underscored the need for the Caribbean region to be maintained as a Zone of Peace.

The Ministers welcomed the trilateral meeting that was convened by the Secretary General of the United Nations with the Presidents of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  The Ministers further noted the decision of the Government of Venezuela to return its Ambassador to Guyana and to grant agreement to the Ambassador Designate of Guyana to Venezuela.  It was noted that these two decisions would set a firm basis for the return of full-fledged diplomatic relations between Guyana and Venezuela.

The meeting was especially pleased at the decision of the Government of Venezuela to receive, within the shortest possible time, the Technical Team from the United Nations Secretariat which is conducting a desk review in order to provide recommendations to the Secretary General on the way forward in the search for a full and final solution to the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy regarding the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award.  It was noted that the decision to receive the Technical Team in Caracas will hasten the efforts aimed at bringing that controversy to an early end.

The meeting noted that Guyana called for a juridical solution to the controversy given the divergence of views between the two sides about the validity and nullity of the Arbitral Award of 3rd October 1899.

The Ministers reaffirmed their support for the maintenance of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.