Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington speaks at the UN

wilfred elrington

Foreign Minister Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington was the first speaker this morning at the United Nations General Assembly. The GA, in its sixty-fifth year, is one of most anticipated and significant events in the calendar of the UN; statements are normally delivered by the highest authorities, heads of state, governments or foreign ministers on both domestic and international issues; who also use the occasion in New York to hobnob for bilateral issues.  It is an auspicious occasion where for as long as we can remember, the Belize statement has included reference to the number one foreign policy issue: finding a solution to the Guatemalan dispute. We don’t know if it has to do anything with artificial borders, but we went through Elrington’s statement this morning with a fine tooth comb and alas, there was no reference to the claim by Guatemala even though there have been developments at the Guatemalan congress on the matter of a referendum. Interestingly, when we checked on the statement of the Guatemalan Permanent Representative Gert Rosenthal we did find that the Guatemalans found it important to include the issue in their statement. Rosenthal via an interpreter said:

Gert Rosenthal, Former Foreign Minister, Guatemala

gert rosenthal

“We have taken a major step forward in turning to International Court of Justice together with Belize in order to search a legal solution to the age old territorial dispute between our countries. This step will consist of the adoption via congress of the special agreement signed with Belize in December of 2008 and which clears the path for a popular referendum as stipulated in the agreement. We hope that the Belizean parliament will also authorize as soon as possible the referendum to be held simultaneously in both countries as the final step that will allow both parties to appear before the court.”

But back to Elrington’s speech, we were also struck that there was no reference to the global concern over climate change, there was fleeting mention of the financial crisis, and nothing about world trade or peace. He did, however, speak of the crushing debt burden and of the need for a shift in cooperation modalities to one of partnerships and not charity.  The audio of the Foreign Minister’s speech is not yet posted on the UN website but an excerpt says that debt service obligations constrain government’s capacity to increase investments. And according to the Minister, Belize finds itself off track in meeting Millennium Development Goals for poverty, hunger, education and the empowerment of women.