Georgetown, Guyana – (October 02, 2015) President David Granger has expressed his satisfaction that Guyana was able to achieve all of the objectives it had set out, heading into the meeting with Secretary General of the United Nations (UN),Ban Ki-moon, and which was attended by President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on the sidelines of the 70th UN General Assembly.
The meeting was held last Sunday, September 27, and allowed for both Guyana and Venezuela to put forward their positions on the ongoing Border controversy between the two countries.
During his first press conference with local journalists at the Ministry of the Presidency today, President Granger said that four objectives had been set out before the Guyanese delegation left for New York.
“I was invited by the Secretary General, and the four matters which were agreed by President Maduro, was that he would grant agrément for the nominees of Guyana Ambassador to Venezuela, Ms. Cheryl Miles; the Venezuela Ambassador to Georgetown will be returned; that he would receive the delegation nominated by the Secretary General of the UN to visit Caracas and as you know the troops which were deployed in the Cuyuni and Wenamu area, western Guyana have been withdrawn,” President Granger explained.
He further added that those four matters were to Guyana’s advantage and at the end of the meeting, his delegation left satisfied that there was possibility of the restoration of normalcy on the border. “I did have clear objectives, and the four objectives were met,” President Granger reiterated.
On the issue of garnering support for Guyana on the controversy, President Granger said that his administration is pleased with the level of support which has been shown thus far.
He told media operatives, that he used every available opportunity to rally support for Guyana in the face of Venezuela’s aggressions. To this end, he said that upon accepting the letters of credence this morning, from the newly appointed United States of America Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Perry Holloway, he advocated for their support for small states like Guyana..
“I called on the United States, as well, with whom we are partners in the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), which was established by the US, to guarantee the security of small states. There must be some international system to protect small states, what I asked was that the international community to give us the guarantee for some form of security,” the Head of State said.
He added that while direct involvement, however, on the part of the US is unlikely due to their foreign policy, he is of the believe that they can assist in having Venezuela tone down its aggressions.
“They are unlikely to be more deeply involved than it is at present, but I do believe US and Brazil on the North America continent and South America continent have what we call ‘moral suasion’. They have influence to modify the behavior of smaller states,” he added.
Already Guyana has secured the support of CARICOM, the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth Ministerial Group and other states, including neighbouring Brazil.
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