Foreign Minister Peter David says discussions will begin in the near future.
“The fact is that we have as much territory to delimit, and some people believe more lucrative territory to delimit, with Venezuela. We have made contact with Venezuela and we hope we can get that going very soon,” he told the Government Information Service.
“We expect that we can move forward in a quick manner, given the fact that we have done it with Trinidad and Tobago.”
A month ago, Grenada signed and ratified a maritime treaty with oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago under the Patrick Manning administration. Since then, a new government has been elected, led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, but both David and Prime Minister Tillman Thomas say the change will not affect the maritime treaty.
“We have no fears or worries about this,’’ Prime Minister Thomas said. “Whatever we are doing in the National Democratic Congress, under my leadership, is transparent and above board.’’
He noted that the maritime negotiations, conducted by Grenadian and Trinidadian members of the Joint Boundary Commission, were conducted over a one-year period, long before the general elections that were held in Trinidad on May 24th.
“Those negotiations took place at a time when there was no electioneering in Trinidad and Tobago,’’ Thomas said. “The signing on April 21st was more of a formality. We did what ought to have been done. So, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.’’
Minister David added that the Grenada-Trinidad treaty is an agreement between states and not governments.
He said one of the areas of focus of the Grenada government is working with the twin-island republic on now implementing the maritime treaty.
