by Linda Straker
- PM Mitchell submitted tri-lateral proposal to Head of Government in each of the 3 countries
- Tri-lateral joint commission to be proposed to guide demarcating maritime boundaries
- Town hall meeting at Trade Centre on 9 October
Grenada’s government has proposed that a tri-lateral joint commission be established with Venezuela and St Vincent and the Grenadines to guide the process for demarcating maritime boundaries.
“Grenada has also started an initiative to delimit the maritime boundaries with Venezuela and with St Vincent and the Grenadines. We completed the process you know with Trinidad and Tobago back in 2012, we have never been clear on what is the boundary between Grenada and Venezuela and what is the boundary between St Vincent and Grenada,” said Nazim Burke, chairman of Grenada’s oil and gas Technical Working Group.
Providing an update on the work of the Group, Burke, who served as Minister for Energy from July 2008 to February 2013 during the National Democratic Congress Tillman Thomas Administration, told a town hall meeting at the Trade Centre on 9 October, that Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has already submitted the tri-lateral proposal to the Head of Government in each of the 3 countries.
“What has happened is that our Prime Minister has put forward a proposal to the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Prime Minister of St Vincent for the establishment of a trilateral commission, a joint trilateral commission that will be composed of 10 people,” he said while disclosing the breakdown of the Commission.
“In essence, there will be 3 people from each of the 3 countries and a chairman from another country that will guide this process and work towards the completion of the boundaries between our three countries,” he said. He pointed out that, whether on land or sea, the owner of a leased property must know the boundary. “It is a very important step as well because you cannot go about leasing out land to people without knowing where your boundary is, you cannot go about leasing out maritime space to people without knowing where your boundaries are.”
Burke also disclosed that during the past 6 months the members of the technical working group has been holding several discussions with relevant stakeholders including Trinidad and Tobago and other companies which has conducted research and has spatial vector data in their possession about Grenada’s oil and gas.
