GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana Government says Venezuela has no legal authority over the waters off the Essequibo region as it responded to an earlier statement by Caracas that the maritime boundary between the two countries has not yet been legally settled.

Venezuela also accused Guyana of carrying out unilateral exploration activities in waters that remain under dispute.

But in a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the land boundary between the two countries was settled in 1899, and so nothing stops it from conducting a 3D seismic survey of a 25,000-square-kilometre-offshore area or attracting investors there.

“The ministry wishes to remind the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that the Government of Guyana has the authority to grant permission for any activities within the maritime areas appurtenant to the coastal territory of Guyana, as defined by the Arbitral Award of 1899, which established the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela,” the foreign ministry said.

It said that the boundary between the two countries was definitively settled more than a century ago by the 1899 Arbitral Award that brought finality to the territorial boundary and enabled both states to exercise the full rights and advantages arising from their respective territories and maritime projections.

“It is therefore particularly incongruous that Venezuela, having historically benefited from the stability and legal clarity afforded by that settlement, now seeks to challenge Guyana’s sovereign right to utilise and develop the resources contained within the territory and maritime areas that lawfully appertain to Guyana,” the ministry said.

As a result, Guyana said on this basis, it respectfully rejects the protest by Venezuela and likewise rejects the notion that any portion of its maritime space or continental shelf appertains to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

It described Venezuela’s statement as “unfounded, inaccurate and entirely inconsistent” with established principles of international law that the maritime boundary with Guyana was yet to be legally settled.

The Guyana Government categorically rejected Caracas’ assertions and maintained that Georgetown enjoys sovereignty up to 12 nautical miles in the territorial sea, and sovereign rights beyond 12 nautical miles in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf.

The Guyana Government said the maritime areas in which the seismic survey would be conducted “lie unequivocally” within Guyana’s EEZ and continental shelf, over which Guyana exercises sovereign rights.