BELIZE CITY, Fri. Aug. 13, 2021– For two days last week, a delegation from the Guatemalan Republic held trade talks with the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ambassador Amalia Mai.

The two-day gathering was as a part of the Third Meeting of the Administrative Commission under the Belize-Guatemala Partial Scope Agreement and involved discussions geared toward the improvement of trade relations between the two countries.

A release from the Government of Belize states, “A number of issues were covered during the meeting, including food and plant safety, customs and trade facilitation matters, review of existing agriculture quotas, the use of updated tariff codes, land transportation for goods into Guatemala, and payment facilitation.”

The two countries have since agreed to establish a trade facilitation committee within 30 days and to expand the list of products covered by the agreement so that new products are included. Those updated lists have not yet been released.

Guatemala was represented by Alba Edith Flores, the country’s Vice Minister of Integration and Foreign Trade.

Ambassador Mai and Vice-Minister Alba Edith Flores Ponce de Molina delivered the official remarks, while Minister Eamon Courtenay gave the keynote address.

“He expressed the urgency to reconvene the work of the Administrative Commission. He asserted that the private sector in both countries is ready to trade and invest. Minister Courtenay highlighted that the function of the Administrative Commission is to lay out the framework for formal trade to occur, with the objective to identify quick and practical solutions to facilitate trade and expand the PSA,” the release from GoB states.

Also present at the meeting were senior officials from Belize’s Directorate General for Foreign Trade, representatives from other government ministries, and the private sector.