Guyana is considering a number of options to resolve a century-old border controversy with Venezuela, Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said Tuesday.

Rodrigues-Birkett told a news conference that the U.N. Good Officer Process, established more than 20 years ago, has done little to resolve the dispute over Essequibo, a resource-rich area of 167,839 sq. kilometers (64,800 sq. miles) administered by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela.

"If, in two decades, you haven't had the kind of progress you would like to see, and you have had additions that complicate that, I think you need to look at the options," she said.

Her reference to "additions" appear to include Venezuela's October 2013 seizure of an oil-exploration vessel operating in Essequibo coastal waters under a concession from Guyana.

Guyana plans to reach a decision in 2015 on its future course of action in the boundary controversy.

Any judicial action would almost certainly be brought before the International Court of Justice.

Rodrigues-Birkett said Caracas has been informed that Georgetown is exploring other options listed in the Geneva Agreement, signed by representatives of Britain, Guyana and Venezuela on Feb. 17, 1966. That accord provides for the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with Article 33 of the U.N. Charter.

Georgetown maintains that the 1899 Tribunal Award giving Essequibo to Guyana - then a British colony - should be accepted as final and definitive.

The foreign minister hinted that consultations would be held with the opposition - "relevant stakeholders" - because the border quarrel is a "national issue."

The Good Officer Process was initiated in 1989, seven years after the expiration of the Protocol of Port-of-Spain, which had provided an initial period of 12 years during which Venezuela undertook not to assert any claim to sovereignty over Essequibo Guyana pledged to assert no claim to Venezuelan territory. EFE