June 7 Basseterre St. Kitts: The border disputes between two CARICOM Member States and their neighbours were discussed by Caribbean Ministers of Foreign Affairs at their recent meeting in The Bahamas.

 

In relation to the Belize-Guatemala border dispute, Ministers reaffirmed unequivocal support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Belize and urged the two countries to intensify the process of negotiations under the auspices of the OAS in order to bring the territorial claim to an early end through a peaceful, just and definitive resolution of the territorial differendum between the two countries.

 

Ministers expressed appreciation for the work of the office of the Secretariat of the OAS in the adjacency zone to maintain peace and improve relations between the peoples of the two countries, especially in the border area, and appealed to countries to support the special OAS Fund for that purpose.

 

The Foreign ministers noted with satisfaction that relations between Guyana and Venezuela continued to be cordial.

 

They underscored the importance of the ongoing dialogue at the level of Heads of State and Ministers of Foreign Affairs in promoting this cordiality and noted that such dialogue had resulted in a renewal of commitment to a peaceful settlement of the controversy through the mechanism of the United Nations Good Offices Process and to functional cooperation under the aegis of the Guyana/Venezuela High Level Bilateral Commission.

 

The Ministers reiterated their full support for the preservation of Guyana's sovereignty and its right to the unrestricted development of all its territory for the benefit of its people.