Parliamentary Leaders of Central America, Caribbean Meet in Belize
Over the weekend, Belize hosted the nineteenth extraordinary meeting of the forum of presiding officers of national parliaments of Central America and the Caribbean (FOPREL). Belize assumed the presidency of FOPREL since February and will be at the helm until next year. The core purpose of FOPREL is to create legislative framework that applies across the region. FOPREL is housed in Nicaragua, so the members met to discuss the way forward operating in Nicaragua. President Pro-tempore Laura Longsworth who chairs the committee gave us details on the meeting and some of the framework being looked at.
Laura Longsworth
Laura Longsworth, President Pro-Tempore, FOPREL
“What we had to look at was the administration of FOPREL, in terms of how the FOPREL is going to be managed; the administration of the building and so on. We came together as parliamentarians to discuss the way forward of where the building is located in Nicaragua and looking at the ownership of the building and that kind of thing. Today we continue that spirit of cooperation. We continue to discuss the whole issue of government to government relations. With us we also have government officials from Nicaragua to explain to us how they see FOPREL operating in Nicaragua and even offering some suggestions in terms of strengthening FOPREL and so on. In our meeting we also had as an observer, the ambassador …we wanted to understand that.”
Reporter
“How do you see FOPREL’s work? It is a grouping of the leaders of various house and senate, most of whom are elected, and represent more particular constituency if you will, and as you said it is more a matter of collaborating on legislation?”
Laura Longsworth
“First of all they are Central American colleagues and of course that immediately means that it strengthens the ties of parliamentarians in the region and what brings us together is the opportunity to harmonize legislation across the region so that we can actually work on things together; things that affect all of us in the region. If you speak about water we have those same issues; if we speak about nutrition and so on. So, it is developing a working plan, for instance.”
