The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade held the second of two consultations on the Belize – Guatemala Partial Scope Agreement. According to Acting Director in the Office of Directorate for Foreign Trade, Orla Kantun Coleman the meeting allowed the private sector to express concerns and seek clarification of the Partial Scope Agreement which aims to primarily strengthen the commercial and economic relations between the Government of Belize and the Government of the Republic of Guatemala.
Orla Kantun Coleman; Acting Director, Office of Directorate for Foreign Trade
"What we are trying to do is to bring attention to a matter that has gone kind of dormant for the past three years; the matter of the partial scope agreement between Belize and Guatemala. Belize has practically done all its internal process in terms of formalizing the agreement but the agreement was stuck in the Guatemalan congress until earlier this year. Now even thought the countries have entirely completed the internal process, one little matter is outstanding but we expect that to be completed by November. When it is completed we want to have the private sector ready go in terms of reminding them of what the agreement entails such as the potential benefits so that they can start preparing for when the agreement comes into effect, which we are hoping to be at least by the end of December. What we are trying to do then is to remind private sector of what the agreement is about, alert them to the products that are going to benefit from preferences going into Guatemala and these products are primarily agricultural products. It also includes citrus products like orange concentrate, grapefruit concentrate and the actual orange fruit. It also included telapia, red kidney beans; there is a quota allocation for yellow corn and black beans, some cows and bulls and some other grain products. It will be something very beneficial for the private sector in terms of these exports getting preferences going into Guatemala."
Ambassador for Foreign Trade Bert Tucker described the meeting as a continuation of a process tasked to realize the transition from making Trade possible to making Trade happen.
Bert Tucker; Ambassador for Foreign Trade
"I think it is a very important thing when you consider that our neighbours in Central America have large markets. They are supposed to be able to reap some king of benefits off the nearness to that market and consequently the challenge in Belize is to be able to take this opportunity. If you can argue that you have difficulty taking markets that are even further so in a sense Belize is confronted now; this is a stimulus for us then, to get through this. It will mean that we will be able to pursue other markets even more effectively. This is a chance for us to work it out in a home grown neighbourhood. This is our neighbourhood, these are the things that we have to work out in practice and then we can go further a field. Right within this context of a global recession we can learn to take these opportunities."
A similar consultation was held last week at the Belize Chamber of Commerce in Belize City. Both parties as expected to sign the agreement at the end of this month and full implementation should take effect early next year.
