Belize Votes for Saudi Arabia to Host World Expo 2030

Prime Minister John Briceño and a delegation of government officials returned from Saudi Arabia recently where they attended a summit with other CARICOM heads of government.  In the past few months, both South Korea and Saudi Arabia have turned to Belize for its vote so that either of the two countries gets an opportunity to host the World Expo in 2030.  But did Belize receive any sovereign gifts in return for its support of Saudi Arabia.  Here’s how PM Briceño responded to that question.

John Briceño, Prime Minister

“That’s not necessarily true, it just so happened that the Saudis came early to ask for support.  Both Saudi Arabia and South Korea, I consider them as very important development partners and both have displayed a willingness to work with small countries like Belize.  The Saudis, as they pointed out, for too long were just concentrating on one area of the world and now they believe that they need to be able to expand their sphere of influence and they believe that they can come and work with countries like Belize, the Caribbean islands that are directly impacted by climate change.  But I must, again, emphasize that I consider South Korea a very close ally of Belize, a development partner of ours and we look forward to continuing to work with both countries.”