EU-CELAC Workshop on Citizen Security Opens in Belize

The third in a series of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States workshop on citizen security is being held in Belize. The two-day event opened today at the Biltmore in Belize City and brings together over fifty representatives from countries across Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean. The forum discusses how countries can address transnational crimes and will end with a document on specific needs and actions to be taken. The European Union will then lead the way in offering support to the countries to improve security for citizens.

Malgorzata Wsilewska

Malgorzata Wsilewska, EU Ambassador to Belize

“This particular workshop will focus very much on what the EU and CELAC countries agreed as part of the action plan after the summit in 2015. So, what is that the European Union can do to assist countries of Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean to address the huge challenges of citizen security that exists in all the regions? This workshop will focus on concrete steps; of course when you start a dialogue like that you have to identify what the challenges and problems are and what the EU can do to assist. This workshop hopefully will focus on more concrete results in how the countries can cooperate better on cross-border organized criminality. So, investigation, intelligence sharing, border control, joint policing, but also better involvement of local government and civil society.”

John Saldivar

John Saldivar, Minister of National Security

“A lot of the crimes that happen in our country are driven by transnational activities, so it is very important that Belize play its role in terms of information sharing and cooperation with countries of the region and share similar experiences. So, that is the importance of this seminar to us.”

Reporter

“What would you hope our police officers who are here take away from this particular event?”

John Saldivar

“I hope that we can learn from the experiences of other countries, but perhaps more importantly to deepen the cooperation that we have with the countries of the region and the sharing of information that we can better address the transnational crime issues.”