Belizean Delegation Meets Mexican Secretary of Agriculture
Although the northern border is still closed to the average Belizean, a special delegation, led by the Minister of Agriculture Jose Abelardo Mai, went across to Mexico on Thursday. Their purpose was to meet with Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Victor Manuel Villalobos Arambula and discuss areas of partnership and cooperation. Those talks focused on agriculture, livestock and aquaculture. The Government of Belize’s Press Office spoke with Villalobos Arambula and Minister Mai.
Victor Manuel Villalobos Arambula, Secretary of Agriculture, Mexico
“First, let me just mention that is a great pleasure to exchange ideas and views. I would like to refer that we had instructions by the President to strengthen the relationship with Central American countries and the Caribbean countries. So, I think it is a great opportunity, not only to meet with the Minister and his staff, but also what we expect that in this dialogue we can be able to exchange ideas and look for more opportunities. We share a border. We share possibilities and potential, but at the same time I think there is a need for us to have a more direct contact and collaboration between the two countries.”
Victor Manuel Villalobos Arambula
Reporter
“And what are some of those areas that you see possible collaboration in Belize?”
Victor Manuel Villalobos Arambula
“I think it is within the three major subsections, agriculture, cattle and fisheries. So, I think this is something that we will present here, the possibility and the strong potential for development of these areas in Belize, always taking into consideration issues related with inequity, because eventually we will be able to have an economic chain particularly with cattle or with agriculture. So, I think in this dialogue where we come with the idea to strengthen relations, we will be able to put on the table areas of potential projects that will eventually benefit the economy of Belize.”
Jose Abelardo Mai
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise
“I hope that we can establish a great working relationship. We have been doing trade in Mexico for so many years, more so Mexico exporting to Belize. Belize has dropped exportation tremendously, shrimp being one of the main ones in 2015. But, there are other areas we are exploring to export to Mexico. So, I wish that at the end of today we will have set practices of what we need to do, set processes that we can access markets in Mexico. Mexico is Belize’s big brother that is how I see it. It is a powerful country, huge population and huge demands for goods and services. And so, Belize is a small country, we are self sufficient, but we can also export some of our commodities to them, cattle being one of the ones recently. We are working very hard on that. We are looking at strengthening collaboration in research, technical training for our people. I share the same views of one of our past ministers who said, why are we going across the world to seek technology when Mexico has it right next door to us? So we have to be practical. I have confidence and trust that minister.”
