Top U.S. officials says relations are good

In foreign affairs news, Kirsten Madison, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State is in Belize on a familiarization trip to acquaint herself with the new players in Belmopan. Madison works out of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and this afternoon told us about her visit and the role of her office.

Kirsten D. Madison, Dep. Assistant Secretary, U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
“The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs has responsibility for working on relations with all of the countries in the western hemisphere. For me, that means Central America and the Caribbean and Cuba and I have other colleagues who do other pieces of it and really it is our responsibilities to help to formulate the policies that the United States pursues. But importantly, and this is what brings me to Belize, to also establish the relationships with the governments in the region so that we can advance an agenda that is to the mutual benefit of our countries.”

Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
“The Deputy Assistant Secretary Madison is down here for two days to see Belize and meet with government and members of the Cabinet and the government and we are going to travel over to the border by Benque so she can see the O.A.S. adjacency zone. And this is her first trip to Belize and so we are going to see if we can squeeze in a few sites.”

Kendra Griffith
“How has the working relationship been with the government since the change in February?”

Robert Dieter
“It has been very smooth. We get along well with the new foreign minister and the prime minister and we’ve enjoyed a continued good relations with the government of Belize.”

Kirsten Madison
“Our government to government relationship is only one piece of that, It’s a very important piece of that, but I think there is a lot of connections between those two countries that makes for a very rich relationship.”