Foreign Affairs C.E.O. Commits to Working with People

Chief Executive Officer Patrick Andrews, who recently assumed that post with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, formally introduced himself to the media this morning during a brief press conference here in Belize City.  Following his assignment as Permanent Representative of Belize to the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., Andrews returned to the country a few weeks ago to serve in another capacity.  The career banker turned diplomat replaces former C.E.O. Lawrence Sylvester.  In familiarizing himself with the media, Andrews discussed his reason for accepting PM Barrow’s offer of the post in Washington.

Pat Andrews

Pat Andrews, C.E.O., Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“When the Prime Minister called me to take this position in Washington, I accepted it.  I thought it was a good opportunity to serve Belize and even this new one here, again, to serve Belize.  I think that what happened to me up in Washington was that suddenly, it reminded me that all along I wanted to be a public servant.  I wanted to serve Belize even when, before I joined the bank, but things didn’t work out too well in 1973, so I joined the bank in 1974 and I didn’t look back.  Transitioning to the public sector has been very interesting, I think that I made it very clear to the people in Foreign Affairs when I joined with them with the team, that I would be focusing on people.  I’d be focusing on people and trying to see how I could elevate careers, how I could elevate service, how we could be viewed at differently and I was particularly interested in making sure that with you the media, I had a very early communion because I saw the need for us to be very open with you, very transparent, very timely in being able to give you the news that you want to hear and be able to regain, if we had lost any, and hopefully not, but regain credibility, if we had lost any, to regain that.  So I think that I continue to work assiduously to see how we can join hands with our team players to serve the public better, to be able to represent Belize internationally and locally, to be able to foster Belize’s foreign policy.”

C.E.O. Pat Andrews has been replaced as Permanent Representative of Belize to the O.A.S. by Ambassador Francisco Daniel Gutierrez.