Belize and Guatemala’s Foreign Ministers Meet at Adjacency Zone

Foreign ministers Eamon Courtenay and Pedro Brolo Vila met for the first time this morning at the Office of the Organization of American States at the Adjacency Zone.  The meeting was cordial and productive and both government ministers made their way over to the border marker in a symbolic show of unity which is also a recognition of the existence of Belize’s boundary.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano has the following story.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Diplomatic relations between Belize and Guatemala have at times been trying, in light of the age-old territorial dispute that is now before the International Court of Justice.  Notwithstanding the existing claim, it is incumbent upon both countries to coexist harmoniously.  This morning, at the OAS Office in the Adjacency Zone, foreign ministers Eamon Courtenay and Pedro Brolo Vila met to discuss efforts to strengthen relations between Belize and Guatemala.  The effort comes amid the resulting economic hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eamon Courtenay

Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Through all those challenges which continue even to today, our countries were able to work together to preserve trade, to facilitate the movement of people for urgent medical care, to collaborate on the repatriation of our respective nationals and to cooperate in the area of health.  What we have been able to do together in difficult and unusual circumstances gives me confidence that we have the willingness and readiness to work together.  Our fate as neighbors is ordained by geography, therefore we have a duty to promote friendly and good neighborly relations and to forge a robust partnership for development.”

Indeed, it is a cooperation that Courtenay’s Guatemalan counterpart is fully onboard with.

Pedro Brolo Vila

Pedro Brolo Vila, Guatemalan Foreign Ministers [Translated]

“We are neighboring countries and we are friends, so we must solve them in a peaceful manner and we need to solidify them, the challenges that we are facing.  We also have to thank the O.A.S. for everything that they are doing, but are also wanting to strengthen these measures and we have asked the Secretary General to accompany us in this.”

The Belize-Guatemala Joint Commission has also been reactivated, not because it was ever dormant, but because it lacked the vigor to achieve the goals that were previously outlined.

Eamon Courtenay

“We have agreed to reactivate the joint commission.  We have named Ambassador Mai as our commissioner.  We have also suggested that they should meet as soon as possible and preferably within two months.  The commission was not deactivated, I wouldn’t say that.  I just believe that it has not been moving aggressively as we would like.  What Minister Brolo and I are committed to doing is providing whatever resources are necessary and to have our officials continue to work assiduously and diligently on the issues.  In 2014, Belize and Guatemala signed thirteen agreements, four are currently under implementation and it is our instructions to our officials that they must get moving on all.  There are some formalities that are required on a few of them, those are going to be completed.”

The Partial Scope Agreement which is a preferential trade agreement between both countries was signed in June 2006, but did not come into effect until April 2010.  Belize is now looking to expand the list of products that it can export to Guatemala under this agreement.

Eamon Courtenay

“We have put on the table an increase in the number of products that Belize wants to be covered by the Partial Scope Agreement and Guatemala undertook to review them and to take them back to capital for review and I look forward to our officials getting together to deal with those issues.  We also proposed to Guatemala the need to have some entity closer to Belize than to Guatemala City to facilitate the issue of permits and things like that and the response from Minister Brolo was very positive in that regard and we are looking forward to implementation.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.