Belize and Spain improve relations
This morning, representatives of the governments of Belize and Spain met in Belize City to finalize plans to enhance relations between the two countries. As part of the discussions, the delegations hosted a working luncheon with members of the Belizean press corps to highlight the initiative. According to Moises Cal, Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the areas of collaboration include human development, poverty reduction and the protection of the environment.
Moises Cal, Director of International Cooperation, Belize
“Quite a bit of it is on training, capacity building, using the resources that the Spanish government has in Guatemala, Bolivia, as well as in Columbia, in various sectors from social economic to security aspects. And secondly, what is very, very important to us–the Prime Minister is very interested in it–is the provision of micro-credit to non-government organisations to be able to provide these micro-credit to a specific audience, the very poor.”
“Today is one of the first working meetings to determine exactly, looking at the mixed commission minutes, what activities are being agreed upon, what projects. And therefore, trying to determine when it’s going to be implemented, who is going to implement them, who is going to be the focal point, how much funding will be available for each particular activity, et cetera. So what we are now doing is basically an implementation plan.”
Joaquim Tres, Coordinador, General de Cooperacion, Spain
“The micro-finance program, we hope, can start by July of this year. So it’s very good news for us and for you that we are starting to work in very significant programmes that promote human sustainable development.”
“The country profile of Belize doesn’t require large sums of money, although you may think that this is what is needed. I think that is already a very good install capacity in the state, in civil society institutions, in the private sector. And more than money, what is needed is different views from experts, from outsiders. And of course, money is needed, you cannot do micro-finance without money.”
According to the Spanish delegation, the amount of money involved in the bi-lateral programmes has yet to be finalized.
