Secretary General Almagro Encourages Belize and Guatemala to Strengthen Ties

The territorial dispute between Guatemala and Belize, despite the matter being taken to the World Court for settlement, is also an area of concern for the O.A.S.  Notwithstanding the pending outcome, Secretary General Almagro urges both countries to continue strengthening their cooperation through confidence building measures.

Luis Almagro

Luis Almagro, Secretary General, O.A.S.

“We should all keep working. We should work during the process at the International Court of Justice. We should work when the decision comes and then the work of the administration, the decision of the court will be very relevant too. So the work won’t stop so easily. Permanently, we need to create better confidence, better [relationships] between the neighboring countries and we have to facilitate conditions in order to have better cooperation in the Adjacency Zone.  We need to create possibilities for an easy administration for the decision of the court.  All that is relevant, so we all need to keep doing what we are doing and confidence building measures were relevant ten years ago and are relevant today and will be relevant in twenty years because that is part of being good neighbors to countries.”