BELIZE CITY, Fri. Dec. 14, 2018– After holding the Presidency Pro Témpore (PPT) of the Central American Integrated System, SICA, for the last six months, Belize formally handed it over to Guatemala this afternoon. Guatemala was represented at the SICA Heads of Government Summit in Belize City by its president, Jimmy Morales.
Apart from the Guatemalan president, three other Central American presidents attended the SICA Summit. They are the president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela; the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez; and the president of El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren. Nicaragua and Costa Rica were represented by their foreign ministers.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that during Belize’s PPT, we have sought at ministerial level to intensify the regional search for concrete and comprehensive ways to address the fundamental migration issue.
Barrow also remarked on the crime and violence that has cast the Central America region as one of the most violent regions in the world.
“Strengthening our regional response to crime and violence is therefore imperative if we are to provide the necessary citizen safety conditions for our peoples. Under the Belize PPT we have accordingly continued to work on the development plan of action to combat organized crime. We have also advanced the proposal from the Central American Democratic Security Index and the reinforced SICA, CARICOM Security Collaboration Structure,” PM Barrow added.
Belize’s Prime Minister also discussed climate change: “There is no point to the global acknowledgment of our region as among the most vulnerable if we will continue to be denied a proper share of the finance and resources necessary to combat that [climate change] vulnerability,” he said.
At the close of the session, Belize handed over the Presidency Pro-Témpore to Guatemalan president, Jimmy Morales.
President Morales highlighted five points on which Guatemala will focus its SICA Presidency Pro Tempore.
In the Spanish language, Morales said the following: “One, special attention is the issue of irregular migration. Two, a stronger articulation to consolidate the economic integration of the region. Three, the facilitation of new opportunities for local development based on investment and employment generation. Four, an effective customs unit that generates more competitiveness and economic dynamism. And finally, five, to promote the new model of democratic security to face transnational threats.”
The SICA Presidency Pro-Témpore rotates among the members of the organization every six months.