President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has urged Venezuela to respect and abide by the forthcoming ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the long-running Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.
Addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, President Ali reaffirmed Guyana’s commitment to resolving the controversy through peaceful and lawful means.
The President said Guyana had consistently pursued peaceful avenues to settle the dispute, despite what he described as “long and repeated provocations and aggression.”
His remarks came less than a day after Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez used the UNGA platform to reiterate Caracas’ claim to the Essequibo region and call for Guyana to return to negotiations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement.
President Ali pointed to the 1899 Arbitral Award, which Guyana maintains constituted the “full, perfect, and final settlement” of the border with Venezuela. He said the matter was eventually referred to the ICJ following decades of bilateral efforts, including the work of a Mixed Commission and the Good Offices process facilitated by the UN Secretary-General.
The case was formally brought before the ICJ by Guyana in 2018, after the UN Secretary-General referred the controversy to the Court under the Geneva Agreement. The ICJ subsequently affirmed its jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The substantive hearings in the case were completed in May 2026. With the proceedings now before the Court for deliberation and judgment, President Ali said both countries should respect the eventual decision.
“Now that we have both participated in the hearings which were completed in May 2026, we urge Venezuela to abide by the forthcoming ruling in accordance with their obligation under the UN Charter, as Guyana will do,” President Ali told the Assembly.
Guyana’s Government has previously stated that the final judgment will be legally binding on both countries. The ICJ has not yet announced a date for delivering its judgment.
Looking beyond the court ruling, President Ali said Guyana hoped the process would pave the way for improved relations between the two neighbouring states.
“We look forward to a new era of neighbourly relations in the interest of our peoples, the development of our countries, and the stability and prosperity of our region,” he said.