Guyana’s recent appointment to the Chairmanship of the G77 Group has sparked concerns. It was purported that in order to get that post for the largest United Nations (UN) coalition of countries, Guyana was asked to stay silent on the controversy arising from Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Arbitral Award establishing the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela is “null and void”.
Raising this at his most recent press conference was Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. But when Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge was contacted by Guyana Standard on the issue, he stated unequivocally that Guyana made no such agreement.
Greenidge acknowledged that indeed, Venezuela was pushing for there to be a conditional arrangement for the post. The official said, “The Venezuelans did make such a demand, that the controversy not be raised by us or anyone for that matter who got the post…They simply don’t want you using that platform to highlight any of their wrongs. But we did not agree to that.”
Now that the Foreign Secretary has confirmed that Guyana did not make any such agreement, it is left to be seen if the government will use the international platform to advance Guyana’s cause.
