President Granger optimistic for favourable ICJ ruling
DPI, Guyana, Friday, December 6, 2019
His Excellency, President David Granger, is optimistic that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will dispense a ruling in Guyana’s favour in the border case with Venezuela.
The Head of State expressed these sentiments on Thursday while appearing on the popular radio programme “Hot Seat.”
“We hope that we will get a judgement and we are confident that we will be getting a very favourable judgement in a very short time,” the president said.
He added that the issue had been a “monkey on our backs for the last half-century.”
“The territorial question has a lot to do with our petroleum exploration, the lineation of our maritime frontiers and seeking the court’s reassertion of the agreement of 1899 which clearly demarcated our borders,” he remarked.
But despite this, the president noted that Guyana has been fulfilling its humanitarian mandate by facilitating Venezuelan migrants crossing the border to escape the socio-economic turmoil in their homeland.
His Excellency, President David Granger, while appearing on the popular radio programme “Hot Seat.”
President Granger clarified that he does not view the migrant situation as a threat to Guyana’s territorial integrity.
“Should there be a military threat, I am very confident that the defence forces will be capable of deterring aggression,” he stated.
The ICJ will begin hearing arguments in March 2020 on whether it has jurisdiction over the case filed by Guyana as it relates to the Arbitral Award of 1899, Guyana vs Venezuela.