Following up on the visit on Sunday 25 August 2013 by Mexico's Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade to Belize , Vice Foreign Minister Vanessa Rubio has given more details about the talks that took place with local Belizean officials. In a telephone interview given to the media in Belize, Minister Rubio expanded on the discussions.
On Belize's Trade Relations With Mexico
The focus was on establishing a common bilateral agenda of priorities and strengthening the legal framework that regulates the relationship between Belize and Mexico. On the table were trade agreements, as well as agreements on double taxation, the promotion of investment and extradition.
“If we see the touristic area of both the southeast part of Mexico and Belize as a whole we can make a real good promotion of regional development and multi-destination tourism to enhance not only the tourism that comes from Belize to Mexico, basically to Chetumal, but also multi-destination tourism from abroad…from the rest of Latin America, from North America, from Asia and from Europe…those visitors that go to the southeast of Mexico can also be making a trip to Belize and the other way around.
"So that’s something that we will be promoting as well as part of the priorities of the common agenda. I think there is a lot…much more that we can do in order to be receiving goods from Belize. Also we need to look into, for example, the arts and crafts industry in Belize to be part of the arts and crafts industry in the region. Mexico through a private institution Panamex, it’s a national institution, has been looking at an exposition of the main aspects of the local culture in terms of arts and crafts and we have been making this exposition of the arts and crafts of Latin America and the Caribbean and we would like to see Belize’s arts and crafts included in the exposition so this is something that we should look after.
"And it’s not only the exposition in terms of culture but also in terms of cultural industry to be part of the local industry and world industry. So that’s one part of it. And we should look into more precise sectors in which Mexico can be a better buyer of Belize goods and services.”
The Belize-Mexico Border
“We went to the crossing in Chetumal and Subteniente Lopez to see how the new installations are working in terms of customs, in terms of migration, in terms of sanitary authorities. Then after that we made a trip by helicopter throughout the border to the monument 107 which is where the border between Mexico and Belize finishes at the south part. We were very glad to see that we have a very stable border, one that indeed needs some strengthening of infrastructure and some promotion of economic development on both sides of the border but still one that functions relatively well.
"Really what we want to do is to have a prosperous and secure border and in terms of prosperity what we need to look into is to make sure that the communities on both sides of the border have the opportunities and the infrastructure to grow and to create jobs and to be a part of the local and regional economy so that is something that we’ll be working on. And in terms of security we need two things – (1) the proper infrastructure, physical infrastructure in terms of formal crossings, and (2) a good deal of information sharing throughout the proper security institutions and joint operations to combat counterfeiting and drug trafficking.”