UN Secretary General for brief stop over

Last Updated on Sunday, 11 October 2015, 1:24 by GxMedia

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon is scheduled to transit Guyana to New York on Sunday, a senior Foreign Ministry official confirmed.

The official said there would be no meeting between the world’s top public servant and government officials here. However, there would be the usual courtesies.

The UN Secretary General would not be leaving the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Instead, he would be connecting to a Caribbean Airlines flight to New York, the seat of the UN Headquarters.

The UN Chief has been in Peru and Bolivia since October 8, 2015.

Ban late last month brokered a meeting on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy between Presidents David Granger and Nicolas Maduro on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

It was at that meeting that the Venezuelan President agreed to grant approval to Cheryl Miles being Guyana’s next Ambassador to Caracas and the return of Venezuela’s envoy to Caracas.

Along with the restoration of high-level diplomatic relations, Venezuela has agreed to allow a UN fact-finding mission to visit Caracas before advising the UN Secretary General on the way forward.

While Venezuela favours retaining the UN Good Officer mediation process, Guyana says that has been a waste of time for the past 23 years and it is time Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo Region be taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Guyana maintains that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award represents the full, final and perfect settlement of the land border with Venezuela.

Tensions soared since late May when American oil giant, Exxon-Mobil, announced that it had found a significant deposit of high quality crude oil.