Former Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Attorney General Mohamed Shahabuddeen served a 9-year term on the International Court of Justice (1987–1996).
It played an important role in the founding of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), but its historic status as the organization's poorest member limited its ability to exert leadership in regional activities.
Since discovering and developing its offshore oil and gas reserves, Guyana has been reclassified by the World Bank as a high-income country.
Guyana has sought to keep foreign policy in close alignment with the consensus of CARICOM members, especially in voting in the UN, OAS, and other international organizations.
At a meeting in Geneva in 1966, the two countries agreed to receive recommendations from a representative of the UN Secretary General on ways to settle the dispute peacefully.
However, the dispute with Suriname was arbitrated by the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea and a ruling in favor of Guyana was announced in September 2007.
[3][4][5] In 1993, Guyana ratified the 1988 Vienna Convention on illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and cooperates with US law enforcement agencies on counter-narcotics efforts.
Guyana is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98).
Guyana has been considered a transshipment point for narcotics from South America, primarily Venezuela, to Europe and the United States and producer of cannabis.
Shortly after Great Britain secured British Guiana from the Dutch, waves of migrants were encouraged to move and settle in Guyana.
Such terms as the "Guyanese bench" in the immigration area of the Barbados Sir Grantley Adams International Airport have tested both states at times.
[25][26] The Guyanese government has offered to put in place an economically favourable regime towards any Barbadians that wish to relocate to Guyana and contribute towards that nation's goals in agricultural investment.
Bilateral relations between the countries have recently increased, as a result of Brazil's new South-South foreign policy aimed to strengthen South American integration.
During a state visit by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Georgetown on 2 March 2007, the governments of Guyana and Brazil signed several cooperation agreements and announced plans to boost trade between the two countries.
[31] Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have had historically close ties due to their shared culture, history, dominion under the British empire, demographics and religion.
During the last years of his administration, President Hoyte sought to improve relations with the United States as part of a decision to move his country toward genuine political nonalignment.
Relations also were improved by Hoyte's efforts to respect human rights, invite international observers for the 1992 elections, and reform electoral laws.
The 1992 democratic elections and Guyana's reaffirmation of sound economic policies and respect for human rights have placed U.S.-Guyanese relations on an excellent footing.
President Cheddi Jagan was committed to democracy, adopted more free market policies, and pursued sustainable development for Guyana's environment.
Venezuela claimed more than half of the territory of the British colony of Guyana at the time of the Latin American wars of independence, a dispute that was settled by arbitration in 1899.
Both countries share common membership of the Atlantic co-operation pact,[60] the Commonwealth, and the World Trade Organization, as well as the CARIFORUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement.