President Dr. Irfaan Ali has called on Venezuela to respect the forthcoming ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the decades-old border controversy, while pledging that Guyana will also abide by the Court’s decision.
Addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Ali said both countries have now participated in the proceedings before the World Court, whose hearings on the merits concluded in May.
“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,” Ali told world leaders.
The comments came a day after Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez used her UN address to advocate a negotiated settlement under the 1966 Geneva Agreement. Guyana maintains that judicial settlement through the ICJ is the appropriate mechanism after decades of bilateral efforts failed to resolve the controversy. Department of Public Information, Guyana
Guyana instituted proceedings before the ICJ in March 2018, seeking confirmation of the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award that established the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela. Venezuela contests the validity of the award.
The Court ruled in 2020 that it has jurisdiction to consider Guyana’s application and rejected another Venezuelan preliminary objection in 2023. Both countries subsequently participated in hearings on the merits from May 4 to 11 this year.
Ali told the General Assembly that Guyana only approached the Court after earlier mechanisms, including a Mixed Commission and the Good Offices process under successive UN Secretaries-General, failed to bring a settlement.
While reaffirming Guyana’s position on the border, Ali said Georgetown wants relations with Caracas to improve once the judicial process is concluded.
“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.
The ICJ has not announced a date for its judgment. Guyana has said that, based on the Court’s usual timelines, a decision could come between November 2026 and January 2027.
