President to address border controversy at MERCOSUR meeting today
JUST one day after President David Granger returned from a high-level United Nations (UN) meeting on financial development in Ethiopia, the President today travels to Brazil for a meeting of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, where he will address the most recent claims by Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro against Guyana’s territory. Mercosur is a union of nations within the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Guyana’s neighbours, Brazil and Venezuela, are full members of Mercosur while Guyana is yet to receive associate member status. Guyana’s status in the body depends on the legislative ratification of the framework agreement signed by the Guyana Government in 2013.
Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro is expected to make an appearance at the high-level meeting along with President Granger. This will be the first appearance by President Granger and the new Government to the Regional body, after the A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition emerged victorious after the May 11 polls.
Governance Minister, Raphael Trotman confirmed yesterday to the press corps at the post-Cabinet press briefing that the President “leaves for Brazil almost immediately after arriving home [from Ethiopia] for a meeting tomorrow of UNASUR [Union of South American Nations] Heads of Government.”
High on the agenda to be addressed by President Granger, according to Trotman, is the development of Guyana as well as advancing the case of Guyana’s territorial integrity against President Maduro’s aggression.
President Granger will be accompanied by a delegation of an undisclosed number from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which includes Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge.
Trotman noted the importance of President Granger at this meeting in advancing Guyana’s cause, as the country attempts to garner support against the decades-long aggression by Venezuela. “Some people believe that this is just some old romantic notion that Venezuela may have, but His Excellency, of course, has a golden opportunity to present Guyana’s case to his South American brothers and sisters,” Trotman told the media yesterday.
This trip, he continued, serves to “explain and to reinforce our position, and to define it to those who may have shrouded ideas as to what exactly is going on.” Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo will be sworn in as acting President during the duration of the two-day meeting in Brazil.
The meeting of the South American leaders is expected to highlight trade and political conflicts in the Region, which hinder advancement to South American integration. The thrust of President Granger’s campaign will be to denounce the decrees issued by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which lays claim to maritime space off Guyana’s Atlantic Coast.
