By Laura Gamba
BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - The foreign ministers of Venezuela and Guyana met Thursday in Brazil, where they pledged to avoid violence and threats and continue working toward a diplomatic solution to a dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
"We agreed on the need to continue addressing the issue through diplomatic channels," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil told reporters in the capital Brasilia after the meeting.
It marked the first time that Gil and his Guyana counterpart Hugh Todd had met since Dec. 14 last year, when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali held talks in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where they signed an 11-point agreement promising to “refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict.”
"We can find areas of common interest in which we can collaborate in an environment of peace and prosperity," said Todd.
Guyana and Venezuela have been engaged in a years-long dispute over a 160,000-square-kilometer (61,776-square-mile) region where massive amounts of oil and gas have been found. It intensified after ExxonMobil's first oil discovery in the territory eight years ago.
While Guyana says its border with Venezuela was fixed by an arbitration tribunal in 1899, Venezuela says the Essequibo River forms a natural frontier recognized at the time of its independence from Spain. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last April ruled that it had jurisdiction over the issue, which could determine which country has rights to the territory. Maduro rejects the court’s jurisdiction.
The Brasilia meeting comes after the territorial dispute escalated last month when Britain sent a warship to Guyanese waters. In response, Venezuela launched a "defensive" military deployment composed of more than 5,000 troops and numerous ships and aircraft.
Venezuela urged Guyana on Thursday to reject third-party interference in the dispute over Essequibo.
“Let us flatly reject the possibility that third parties could interfere or benefit from a possible discussion or a possible controversy between Guyana and Venezuela,” Gil said at the end of the meeting, which was mediated by Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.