Guyana’s new Ambassador to Venezuela, Dr. Richard Van West Charles, will travel to the neighbouring country next week to present his Credentials to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.

During an interview with News Source this morning, Dr. Van-West Charles, said he is looking forward to taking up his role in Venezuela to address certain crucial issues.

He said among those top issues will be to push Guyana’s position to have the Latin America and Caribbean region remain a zone of peace and to restart critical collaborations with Guyana’s neighbors.

“My role is a diplomatic role to work on the basis of the orientation of our government and our Commitment to the Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace and also to look at the collaboration between our neighbors, we need to improve our collaboration for a long time, so it is about how we restart that collaboration,” Dr. Van-West Charles told News Source.

Dr. Van- West Charles, is taking up his diplomatic posting at a time when Venezuela has been intensifying its claims over Guyana’s Essequibo region.

Tensions flared between the two countries in November and early December and only calmed following a meeting between the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela. The meeting was organized by CARICOM, CELAC and Brazil. The meeting which took place at the Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent, produced The Argyle declaration, which mandates that the two countries maintain the peace and do nothing to interfere with the peace or to provoke the peace in the region.

Through the Declaration, Guyana is maintaining its position that the controversy should and must be settled at the International Court of Justice, where it says it has a strong case. Venezuela however, has seen the Argyle declaration as the beginning of a negotiation. 

For his part though, Dr. Van West-Charles said after he presents his credentials and get to work, he will further Guyana’s agenda in this regard.

“The issue is between the two countries, we have got a difference, but we are neighbors, in this case it is like family, you cannot pick your family and, in this case, you can’t pick your neighbor, so we have to work together,” the Ambassador-designate, noted.

Yesterday, the Guyana Government through, Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, confirmed that Dr. Richard Van West Charles is preparing for Caracas and wished him well.

“Wishing a successful tour of duty to our new Ambassador to Venezuela Dr. Richard Van West-Charles as he prepares for Caracas on January 15 after which he will present his letters of credential to the President of Venezuela”, Persaud said in a Facebook post.

Dr. Richard Van West Charles is a member of the opposition People’s National Congress, which was founded by his father-in-law, late President Forbes Burnham.

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