David Rutley, Member of Parliament in UK Makes Diplomatic Visit to Belize
David Rutley
As we said, Minister Rutley has been in Belize on an official visit for the past three days. During his stay he met with Prime Minister John Briceño, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs Eamon Courtenay. He also visited the completed Coastal Plain Highway project. Rutley gave us an overview of his stay.
David Rutley, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
“This is not part of a tour. This is a very rare for me three day visit to one country. I don’t do that very often. I don’t get the chance because I cover a wide area across the Americas, the Caribbean and also overseas territories. But we’ve got a very strong friendship. I was going to say, I think I sometimes see more Foreign Minister Courtenay more than I see my wife. We certainly, we certainly spent a lot of time. This is a visit that I’ve wanted to do for many, many months. It’s just given his agenda and my itinerary, it wasn’t possible. So coming straight out after the summer break, I wanted to make sure I came to Belize and spent quality time here, not just a one day in and out visit, but three days, which is, which is very unusual. But what it speaks to is the strength of our relationship and the importance of our bilateral relationship.”
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“Minister Rutley had intended to come to Belize earlier. And as he said, our schedule was conflicted and therefore it wasn’t possible. But at every meeting that he and I met, I made it a point to invite him and to say, you owe us a visit. It’s important in our view for us to underline the relationship that we have and to cement it by his visit. We have talked about a wide area of several issues that we are working on and new areas where we expect more cooperation with the British government. And, I want to thank him for making the time for spending three days with us. He has had a very successful visit in terms of visiting, meeting people. Going to places and seeing that, first of all, the UK’s partnership is valuable and that there is need for further work and further cooperation.”
We will tell you more about Minister Rutley’s visit when we come back.
