Dr the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Pro Tempore Chair of CELAC, Excellencies Heads of State and Government ,Ministers, Extra regional Partners, Special guests, National Coordinators, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed an honour for me to join you in the beautiful island of St Vincent and the Grenadines. I wish at the outset as a member of the CARICOM family to take this opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate the Government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for its leadership role and commendable stewardship of the Presidency of the Pro Tempore Secretariat over the last year.
St Vincent and the Grenadines has done our region proud in guiding the work of CELAC over the past year, in particular with our engagement with the EU in July 2023 after a hiatus of several years. Guyana was pleased to host the Meeting of the CELAC Ministers of Agriculture held in Georgetown in June 2023.
Excellencies, I believe that we must focus our attention on certain key areas if we are to find viable solutions to the common challenges faced by our region.
Firstly, our commitment to the peace and stability of this region must remain paramount. Latin America and the Caribbean must remain a Zone of Peace. The never-ending war in Ukraine and the unceasing bombing of Gaza are senseless acts of aggression and inhumanity which have consumed the efforts of the international community to find ways in which the citizens of Ukraine and Palestine can be relieved of their suffering. But so far – to no avail. We must never allow the peoples of this region to be subjected to such actions. The genocide in Palestine must come to an end and hostages held must be returned.
It is in this vein that Guyana accepted the offer of my Colleague Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and my other CARICOM Colleagues, Brazil and the UN as an observer, to facilitate a dialogue with His Excellency President Maduro last December to address the tensions that had arisen between our two States. I assured everyone at that time, and now, that I am prepared to speak with President Maduro on any aspect that may contribute to enhancing the relationship between our two countries. The aspect relating to Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo is before the International Court of Justice and the Joint Declaration of Argyle on Dialogue and Peace acknowledges that Guyana is committed to the process and procedures of the International Court of Justice for the resolution of the border controversy. We are prepared to accept the judgement of the Court on this matter. I can assure you that Guyana remains steadfast in its commitment to the international judicial process, as well as, to maintaining our region as a “Zone of Peace”. We want peace. We want prosperity for our neighbours and all in this region. We want to be our brother’s keeper with our neighbour.
Instead of drawing conclusions, States within the region must ascertain the facts. Statements that are not based on facts can only add to destablisation. As we heard this morning from our friends in Bolivia, the air surveillance and sea exercises mentioned by Bolivia were part of bilateral and regional security cooperation and had nothing to do with the Guyana and Venezuela controversy.
It is also important to note that no mention was made about the incursions into Guyana’s territorial space.
My commitment to this august body is that Guyana and everything we do is built on peace and our fundamental values are based on peace. We are a peaceful people.
Fairness is standing on a platform of principle, honesty and values, nothing else.
We are blessed to have President Lula Da Silva back with us. We look to your principled and honest leadership to shape this region on a path to progress and prosperity.
I assure all leaders here that Guyana’s priority is peace and you can have the confidence that our territory will never ever be used as a a platform of war or for war.
Secondly, CELAC can play a pivotal role in seeking to address issues that impact the sustainable development of the region, such as climate change, energy security, and food and nutrition security.
Climate change and extreme weather conditions as we are aware have begun to put the world’s food production and global food security at risk. The prognosis has been made worse by the effects of the pandemic. Guyana as lead in Caricom on this initiative continues to advocate for food and nutrition security in the region. My Government welcomes collaborative efforts and partnerships in the retooling effort to build the necessary capacity to meet the rising need for expertise in the advancement of this sector.
Guyana like many other countries represented here today is cognizant of the disproportionate exposure to the harmful effects of climate change on many of our local industries. Our low-lying coastal plain is subject to flooding from both the rising sea and the increased intensity of rainfall. T
