Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 19, 2017 News
By Kiana Wilburg
In the space of the last 22 months, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has had its fair share of triumphs, trials and tribulations in defending Guyana’s sovereignty while promoting the nation’s development agenda internationally.
The Ministry faced particularly challenging times in 2016, since it was preoccupied with maintaining a robust programme in defence of Guyana’s territorial integrity against Venezuela.
In fact, 2016 was a year in which the Ministry was actively engaged in the efforts of the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, in his endeavours to find a way forward in Guyana’s controversy with Venezuela.
That “way forward” was in fact the title the former Secretary General gave to the proposals he made for the resolution of the controversy. Guyana cooperated fully with him and made every effort to bring his proposals to fruition.
Unfortunately, Venezuela did not do likewise and in the end, frustrated the former Secretary-General’s best efforts.
The “way forward” proposals envisaged a conclusion in 2016, which was, of course, also the end of the Secretary-General’s tenure. Taking over from Mr. Ban is the former Prime Minister of Portugal, António Guterres.
Furthermore, notwithstanding the “limited financial and human resources” available to the Ministry, it was able in large part to attain a high level of success in garnering support for Guyana’s position on the matter of the controversy.
The UN Secretary-General has since appointed Ambassador Dag Nylander as his Personal Representative to provide Guyana and Venezuela a final opportunity to resort to the Good Offices process in order to resolve the controversy arising from Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Arbitral Award delimiting the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela is “null and void”.
The parties have until the end of this year to make significant progress in arriving at a final resolution of the controversy, failing which the Secretary-General will refer the matter to the International Court of Justice.
However, before the authorities here can have the opportunity to make full use of this option, another absurdity recently raised its head, as the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela appears to be taking matters into its own hands when it comes to the Guyana –Venezuela controversy.
In a report in the Venezuelan publication El Nacional of 15th March 2017, it was noted that a resolution of the Energy and Petroleum Commission of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela entitled ‘Approved Agreement to Reject Oil Operations in the Essequibo’ called for the immediate cessation of ongoing offshore oil exploration and exploitation activities under Guyanese licence in the Stabroek concession block.
For the time being, the Government of Venezuela has not adopted the resolution of its Parliament. And it appears that the Government of Guyana is now hoping for the best before making a move beyond the diplomatic lines outlined by the United Nations.
BILATERAL RELATIONS
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, has been coordinating Guyana’s response to developments and challenges globally and regionally.
According to Greenidge, this was achieved through a realignment of the organizational structure of the Ministry, to place particular emphasis on areas central to the promotion of the Ministry’s economic diplomacy programme and on the safeguarding of Guyana’s national interest and bilateral relations.
The Minister stated that Guyana’s bilateral, political and economic engagements establish an important basis for strengthening political and economic partnerships in the various regions of the world. He said that these remain important vehicles for cooperation and promoting Guyana’s national priorities. The national priorities of the Government, as well as of CARICOM, are also pursued through these bilateral engagements.
In 2016, relations with traditional friends and new partners were significantly enhanced through several high level exchange visits and bilateral meetings convened in the margins of regional and international events.
According to Greenidge, the visit to Chile by the President, in response to an invitation from President Michelle Bachelet, resulted in the conclusion of two agreements – a visa waiver agreement and a bilateral air services agreement – along with the commitment to initiate several joint activities in key areas of development.
Greenidge noted that the former agreement is critical in facilitating easier travel, a basic pre-requisite for enhancing investment in Guyana.
Arising out of intensified collaborations with the Russian Federation, including an official visit by Greenidge in July last, was a reciprocal visa-free agreement. It now allows persons with ordinary passports to travel to either country without need of an entry visa.
MULTILATERALISM
As a small state, Guyana remains committed to multilateralism and a rules-based international order. To this end, Greenidge articulated that the Ministry will continue as far as possible to participate and play an active role in all fora of the United Nations system and its specialized agencies, funds and programmes, promoting the pillars of multilateral activity, namely global security, sustainable development, human rights and international law.
The Foreign Affairs Minister said that Guyana will continue to embrace all initiatives aimed at strengthening the UN system and its central role in multilateralism.
“We are of the belief that the resolution of international conflicts should be peaceful and in accordance with the centrality of the UN Charter and the principles of international law,” Greenidge said.
He noted that the policy advanced by the Ministry therefore recognizes that to achieve a better life for all, development and security are best addressed through adequate attention to all global threats facing humanity.
DIASPORA
According to Minister Greenidge, the Guyanese Diaspora remains an important partner in national development programme.
He said that the Ministry will continue to promote the strengthening of South-South cooperation and will seek to play an active role in the formulation of the agendas of the South in all relevant fora, in order to ensure that they are supportive of Guyana’s interest.
He said that the Ministry will continue its engagement with countries of the South, through participation in the Non-Aligned Movement; Group of 77; the Africa-South America and the Arab-South America mechanisms.
“We believe that this is essential for building important regional partnerships, especially for the translation of international commitments to concrete actions.”
INTEGRATION
The Foreign Affairs Minister is of the firm belief that the path to greater prosperity for Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean lies in greater integration, within the region and with the rest of the world. It is for this reason, he said, that membership of CARICOM remains of particular importance and interest to Guyana.
Greenidge posited that CARICOM remains critical to Guyana as it pursues diplomacy and national security.
“For this reason we propose to make a special effort to encourage and support the acceleration and deepening of the integration process. In the last meeting of the Heads held in Georgetown, the Heads agreed to initiate an examination of the integration process and to see how it might be improved.”
Furthermore, the Minister stated that a review of the CSME is being conducted as mandated by the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. The Ministry is working with the CARICOM Secretariat to ensure the review is completed in Guyana this year.
Additionally, the Ministry will be working with the relevant agencies to push for the enactment of legislation developed and submitted by the CARICOM Secretariat for incorporation into Guyana’s domestic law.
Furthermore, Greenidge stated that Guyana has taken tangible steps aimed at reengaging actively with the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). He said that a number of officials from Guyana were able to benefit in 2016 from training offered under the aegis of the ACS in the areas of Disaster Risk Reduction, Trade Development, Transportation and Sustainable Development.
This year, Guyana will seek to deepen its engagement with the Association by advancing projects that can garner resources for execution under the ACS Special Fund, and by advancing candidates to serve on either the Special Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction or the Special Committee for Sustainable Tourism.
Greenidge added that the Government of Guyana is also committed to the maintenance of a peaceful, stable and prosperous region. He said that the administration also recognizes that prosperity can only be realized under conditions of peace and stability.
He lauded the fact that the Ministry continued to follow closely the activities of UNASUR and CELAC and maintained active participation in the process.
Greenidge said that the Ministry will continue to promote the green agenda at the bilateral level and through the various regional and international mechanisms. He emphasised that the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization as a sub-regional mechanism remains important and relevant in this regard.
This year, Greenidge said, the Government proposes to target a selected group of bilateral states with the objective of deepening economic cooperation and trade.
He said that there will be increased focus on the strengthening of economic relations for the promotion of Guyana’s trade, investment and tourism potential and opportunities utilizing existing arrangements such as the Partial Scope agreement with Brazil.
Arising out of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Greenidge said that the Government will be pursuing the review of this agreement in a bid to broaden the range of products covered, especially those which Guyana can export to Brazil.
This effort, he said, is to give effect to the strategic objective of strengthening Guyana’s political, economic and social relations with targeted countries, through the outcomes of structured bilateral mechanisms and high-level visits, to reflect national priorities and the CARICOM Agenda.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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