Guyana, Venezuela foreign ministers in Brazil to prepare for 2nd Maduro-Ali talks

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 January 2024, 21:51 by Denis Chabrol

The Foreign Ministers of  Guyana and Venezuela would be meeting in Brazil on Thursday in keeping with an accord reached in St Vincent a month ago between President Irfaan Ali and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro.

“The meeting is a very important step in fulfilling what we agreed on in St Vincent and that was the establishment of this commission to look at all the consequential matters to develop an agenda so that the conversation between the two countries can continue and set the stage for the second meeting between the two Presidents,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

He said issues of trade, climate, energy security and improve neighbourly relations between the two South American nations. “These are all things that are crucial in a stable and peaceful environment,” he added.

That meeting is in keeping with the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace agreed to following the meeting of the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela on December 14, 2023. “We have quickly moved towards honouring the agreement, implementing the agreement. Secondly, it continues the conversation that is very critical; the conversation between Guyana and Venezuela,” Dr Ali added.

Guyana’s delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Hugh Todd and will include Mr. Robert Persaud, Foreign Secretary; Permanent Secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, Ambassador of Guyana to Venezuela, Richard Van West Charles; Director of the Frontiers Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Donnette Streete,  and Chargé d’Affaires, of the Guyana Embassy in Brazil, Mr Vernon Robinson.

Guyana’s Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud remarked on Twitter that the meeting of the Guyana-Venezuela Joint Commission “is not about our Essequibo Region nor our case before the ICJ (International Court of Justice).”

The Argyle Declaration appeared to have toned down tensions between Guyana and Venezuela, after weeks of sabre-rattling, movement of Venezuelan troops near the border with Guyana, and public threats by the Maduro administration to explore for oil and gold in Guyana’s county of Essequibo. In keeping with its referendum on December 3, 2023, Venezuela has declared that Essequibo is one of its military zones.

However, the area remains under Guyana’s control even as the country remained optimistic that the ICJ would rule in its favour that the 1899 land boundary tribunal award is a final settlement.

The Maduro-Ali meeting was brokered by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean countries, Caribbean Community and Brazil. Those talks were observed by a representative of the United Nations.