The Government and the Opposition have agreed for the Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Monday, November 6.

Initially, the National Assembly was expected to convene on Friday, November 3 to discuss a Motion on the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy and the recent acts and moves by Venezuela.

This afternoon, the Government’s Chief Whip met with the Opposition’s Chief Whip along with the Opposition’s Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly to iron out the issues related to the Extraordinary Sitting.

Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones told News Source that the meeting dealt strictly with the sitting of the National Assembly, and the motion that is expected to be debated by the House.

“That motion has not reached the Leader of the Opposition’s desk yet. It is expected that, that motion is going to reach him before the close of business today and then that is going to be distributed among the Opposition Members of Parliament, so they can prepare themselves,” the Opposition Chief Whip explained.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Amanza Walton-Desir said the proposed motion was submitted to Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations, and remains under review. 

“That text has been reviewed by the Government; they have from all indications made changes and we are not as of now aware of those changes and of course that motion would have to be passed by attorneys for the case before the ICJ for clearance. So, hopefully by the end of the day we will have that motion in hand,” MP Walton-Desir said.

She said the motion will reinforce Guyana’s long held position that the 1899 Arbitral Award is valid, and the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.

“What I anticipate though is that it will of course reinforce the 1899 Arbitral Award, reenforce Guyana’s position that Essequibo belongs to Guyana and it will reinforce the fact that we are committed to the process before the ICJ,” MP Walton-Desir explained.

The extraordinary sitting follows a meeting between President Irfaan Ali, and Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, during which they agreed to strengthen their unified position on the border controversy.

Together, they have rejected a planned referendum by Venezuela on the border controversy.

CARICOM, the OAS and the Commonwealth have all rejected the referendum stating that international law strictly prohibits the Government of one State from unilaterally seizing, annexing or incorporating the territory of another state.

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