UN Secretary General in telephone conversation with Pres. Granger

Last Updated on Friday, 31 July 2015, 14:17 by GxMedia

United Nations Secretary General, ban Ki Moon (UN file photo)

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on Thursday held a telephone conversation with the President of Guyana, David Granger on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, the UN Chief’s office said in a statement.

The phone call followed their meeting on the margins of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Barbados earlier this month.

“The Secretary-General took note of President Granger’s views regarding the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy. The Secretary-General stated his intent to dispatch UN Secretariat staffers to undertake a mission to both Guyana and Venezuela.

He expressed his willingness to further discuss the issue with the Presidents of both countries on the basis of the mission’s recommendations,” said the Ban’s spokesperson in a statement.

The telephone conversation between the UN Secretary General and the President of Guyana came just days after Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro flew to New York where he met Ban to press Caracas’ case for the re-appointment of a UN mediator in the border controversy over the mineral and forest rich Essequibo Region.

Venezuela claims the Essequibo Region and the Atlantic waters off its coast as hers, saying that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award on the land border was a concoction.

Fed up that the mediation ‘Good Officer’ process has been fruitless, Guyana wants the UN Secretary General to refer the controversy to th International Court of Justice for settlement