Partners of the Americas hold annual convention

Over the next four or five days Belize will be hosting several hundred visitors from all over North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean. They’re here for the forty-second annual convention of Partners of Americas. That organisation, founded in 1964, paired various U.S. states with individual countries to the south. In 1966 Belize, it may be recalled, was paired with the State of Michigan. Since that time the intensity of the relationship between Belizeans and Michiganders has fluctuated, but by hosting the convention those bonds should be strengthened. Partners of the Americas president, Malcolm Butler, told us what the partnership is all about.

Malcolm Butler, President, Partners of the Americas
?We were created to build a better understanding between the peoples of the Americas. Peoples meaning all the peoples of the Americas, and that means Latin Americans, Caribbeans, North Americans, people who speak Spanish, Portuguese, Garifuna, Imara, and Navajo for that matter. So all the peoples of the Americas are potential members/partners. We want to create a better understanding among all those people, that?s one. The second thing we like to do is open opportunity for people to grow, that means people in Belize, people in Bolivia and people in New Mexico or New Jersey. So we all grow together and grow understanding one another better in this hemisphere.?

The official opening of the convention takes place Thursday morning at the Princess Hotel, with Prime Minister Said Musa as keynote speaker. On Friday delegates will refurbish the Noel Ferguson Park on Baymen Avenue. President of the Belize Partners is Doctor Christopher Bennett.