Guatemala’s President Hosts PM Briceño in First Official Visit

Prime Minister John Briceño made his first official visit to Guatemala on Tuesday. This morning he participated in a press conference at the Presidential House with President Alejandro Giammattei Falla. The Guatemalan President thanked PM Briceño for accepting his invitation and for engaging the Guatemalan counterparts in meetings. President Giammattei Falla spoke of shared interests between the two countries and gave his government’s commitment to have friendly bilateral relations with Belize. Here’s what he said at today’s press conference in Guatemala City.

Alejandro Giammattei

Alejandro Giammattei, President of Guatemala [Translated]

“I want to emphasize something, that this is a historic event. This is a historic event in that we have two countries that are neighbours and have common challenges; we have arranged to work on the solutions for those common challenges; improve the commercial capacities in both countries; promote investment so that we can secure those investments in Guatemala and Belize, and vice-versa. And also so that we can have the possibility of exchange of fundamental information in distinct areas, not only in commercial business, but also in security. I sincerely want, Mr. Prime Minister, to reiterate the commitment that I made to you, to be the government of the Republic that gets along better with Belize, with you so, that we can build that economic recovery; that we can make it effective and make it a reality; that we can work together so that our people live in better conditions. And this will be the first moment of many moments that we will have to make many agreements of cooperation as is portrayed now and as soon as possible to be able to make substantial changes in our relationship and, above all, demonstrate that when there is political will it is possible to overcome the differences.”