…And Belize will benefit from President Ma’s visit

The President’s statement to the National Assembly was interrupted various times with applauses as he hit the right cords in respect of the relations with Belize. Ma announced that in his diplomatic outreach, Belize stood to benefit in agriculture and fisheries.

Ma Ying-jeou, President Republic of China on Taiwan
“Over the years, relations between our two countries have continued to grow strong because of the deep respect for democracy, freedom and peace. We have remained steadfast allies in the international ring, which has allowed us to enjoy the close partnership in cooperation and development. First of all, irradiating extreme poverty, strengthening assistance for increasing agriculture output, enhance food security, infusing capital into the private sector for industry growth. Second, strengthening human resource development, universal primary education, helping to develop high levels of manpower, strengthening the link between vocational training and human development, assisting in collaborating to grow national capacity will be promoting economic development. Thirdly; preventing the spread of diseases, strengthening medical personnel training through diverse method in continuing to enhance the level of cooperation so as to deepen my ability to provide international medical service effectively. Promoting sustainable development is the first objective. Promoting environmental protection by using geographic information systems, GIS, and enhance waste management and recycling efforts to strengthen the sustainable development of our smaller countries. Number five; strengthening partnerships for global cooperation and development, strengthening partnerships through our advanced technology such as by assisting diplomatic allies to establish digital opportunity centers.”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“The President and I have spoke about deepening what already is a very satisfactory relationship of economic cooperation and partnership. And two ways in which we thought there is a great deal of potential, or two areas, are in fact deepening Belize’s agricultural push, Belize’s agricultural expansion with the technical cooperation and economic support of Taiwan, especially with respect to access to capital, so that Belize might quickly fulfil its potential in the context—not just of self-sufficiency, in the context of certainly regional food security. Another area is fish farming. I don’t know how it is that Mr. Castro isn’t here. Obviously, he didn’t get the memo that the president has interest in promoting expanded fish farming, otherwise I’m sure he would have been here cheering and shouting tilapia, tilapia, tilapia. But again, not just with respect to tilapia, with respect to various other species, it appears to me that there is certainly a great deal of scope for expansion in the cooperation between our countries.”