– Granger From the standpoint that the recent meeting between Guyana and Venezuela didn’t even address the core of the border dispute,Cheap Jerseys, Opposition Leader David Granger is calling for the establishment of a border and national security committee.Venezuela’s navy seized a research vessel, which was conducting a survey in the Roraima Block offshore Guyana, amid claims that the vessel was in the Spanish-speaking nation’s economic zone.The captain was subsequently charged and released on bail.At a recent meeting between Guyana and Venezuela, it was agreed that a technical team would meet within four months to explore mechanisms,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, within the context of international law, to address the issue of maritime delimitation.But Granger’s position is that the recent moves by Venezuela were designed to intimidate. He stressed that the crisis is not over and said that things would undesirably escalate if the Guyana government doesn’t show resolve. Also, Granger said that Guyana had the power to prevent the recent events.At an A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) press conference, held at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on Hadfield Street, Granger disclosed that his party has been silently working to help resolve the issue.He said that since the incident, he had twice written the President to suggest ways forward and had also written the Speaker on a proposed involvement of the parliament in the matter.Granger’s call is for President Donald Ramotar to convene a border and national security committee.? The committee, Granger said, should immediately consider the implications of, and Guyana’s response to, the unprecedented seizure of an unarmed, scientific survey vessel by the Venezuelan Bolivarian Navy (Armada Bolivariana de Venez).Granger also reiterated his call for the establishment of a permanent ‘National Borders Commission’ within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Granger’s call is based on the June 2001 Report of a previous Border and National Security Committee of which he was co-Chairman. That committee was dissolved in 2001 after the report would have been submitted. The Report recommended, inter alia, that the highest level of consultations for discussion and resolution of issues pertaining to border and national security issues should take place between the President and Leader of the Opposition.? This level of engagement represents the core of the bi-partisan approach.The Report recommended,Wholesale Jerseys, also, that a Standing Committee of Parliament should be established to address, specifically, border and national security issues and that the engagements of minister(s) and shadow minister(s) responsible for border and national security matters should be formally established.The Report recommended, further, that the bi-partisan process should be supported by a technical/academic component in the form of an Institute of Border Studies, a strengthened Frontiers Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the review or consolidation of existing institutions where there is overlap and duplication in functions or which, simply,Cheap Jerseys For Sale, are ineffective.Granger said he was astonished at the ‘Joint Statement’ issued after the meeting between Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Venezuela’s Minister for Foreign Relations, Elias Jaua Milano, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday 17th October. The ‘Joint Statement’ merely “agreed to explore mechanisms within the context of international law to address the issue of maritime delimitation.” It did not address the dangerous use, or threat of the use, of armed force by Venezuela against Guyana which is in contravention of Art. 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations.Granger expressed the opinion, further,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, that it has become evident that there is need to strengthen the role of the National Assembly,China Jerseys For Sale, the capability of the Government of Guyana and the capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to respond to challenges to this country’s territorial integrity.Venezuela and Guyana have long argued about the status of the disputed Essequibo region, an area on the border and over rights to the ocean resources that lie offshore. Venezuela calls it a “reclamation zone.”