Belize Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, and his Taiwanese counterpart Francisco H.L. Ou affixed their signatures this evening to a bilateral technical cooperation agreement for a new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Center to be completed in Belmopan later this year.
The signing ceremony took place at the George Price Center in Belmopan, after which the parties proceeded to break ground for the US$300,000 facility on Mountain View Boulevard, a few blocks away.
Witnessing the signing were Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who arrived in Belize Wednesday evening on his first formal state visit to the country with an entourage of about 210 people via a charter flight of China Airways.
According to President Ma, Prime Minister Barrow had attended his inauguration last May as 12th president, and he was reciprocating that gesture with his visit to Belize.
“We consider it a signal honor that you chose Belize as your first stop in Central America, that you are making this state visit in a way that certainly signals the special appreciation for the relations between our two countries. It seems to be that even the earth was moved to pay homage…” Prime Minister Barrow joked.
Earlier in the morning, at about 2:20, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake off the coasts of Belize and Honduras, rocked the country, ruining a handful of homes in Monkey River and other parts of Southern Belize and resulting in the collapse of a water reservoir in Mango Creek, as well as cracks in the ground. Meanwhile, multiple fatalities and massive housing damage were reported in adjacent Honduras.
At this morning’s National Assembly Sitting, Prime Minister Barrow said he was thankful to God that Belize was spared serious consequences of the earthquake.
Ma thanked the Government of Belize for making excellent accommodations for his visit, “Of course except the earthquake,” he added.
He delivered a prepared speech, about 20-minutes long, at the National Assembly, and he said his country was grateful to Belize and its 22 other allies for their support. He particularly highlighted the role Belize played in advocating for Taiwan to attend the World Health General Assembly early May – a function Taiwan attended as observer, under the name “Chinese Taipei”.
“On behalf of the 23 million people and government of the Republic of China, Taiwan, I want to convey my deep appreciation to the people and government of Belize. Thank you very much!” Ma added.
The President of Taiwan is on a 10-day mission to visit to Central America, and he has chosen to make Belize his first stop in the region, following an overnight transit stop in Los Angeles, during which Ma reportedly lobbied influential US officials on an extradition treaty and visa-free travel to the US.
In Belize, Ma paid a courtesy call after 9:00 this morning on Governor-General Sir Colville Young, after which he received symbolic keys to the City of Belmopan, from Belmopan Mayor, Simeon Lopez.
Next, he appeared at 10:00 this morning inside the National Assembly for a joint, ceremonial Sitting of legislators from the House of Representatives and the Senate. Then, he had a tête-à-tête with PM Barrow, at his office a stone’s throw away.
Inside the National Assembly, Ma acknowledged Prime Minister Barrow, and his political allies, as well as members from across the floor, specifically Leader of the Opposition, Johnny Briceño, and ex-Prime Minister, Said Musa. (Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde were absent from today’s meeting.)
Notably, he spent a good portion of his presentation speaking of his administration’s move to soften tensions with Mainland China (People’s Republic of China), the country’s rival as a consequence of a long-standing territorial dispute.
Ma praised the special agreement (compromis) signed between Belize and Guatemala last December, while noting that his administration has held three rounds of talks with Mainland China, with which it also has a territorial dispute, and they have inked a total of 9 agreements between them, including a financial cooperation agreement to allow Mainland China banks to set up business in Taiwan. He called the agreements the first step towards enduring peace and prosperity.
He also said that for the first time in 50 years, there are now daily flights between two rival countries, with Taiwan receiving 3,000 tourists every day from Mainland China.
It is noteworthy, in light of Ma’s heavy emphasis on “flexible diplomacy” with Mainland China, that his next stop is Guatemala — one of its 23 allies, and a country that still maintains a territorial claim over Belize.
Ma spends his longest leg on his Central American expedition in next-door Guatemala, from Friday evening to Monday, when he moves on to El Salvador for the inauguration of president-elect, Mauricio Funes, on June 1. He is scheduled to leave Salvador June 2, overnight in Seattle, Washington, and then return to his home country, Taiwan.
While Ma said nothing of the oil pact inked between Belize and his state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corporation for petroleum exploration offshore Belize in this morning’s extensive speech, one of his main emphases is clearly making more use of information and communications technology, and extending Taiwan’s involvement in e-Government and e-Commerce developments abroad.
At the National Assembly today, Ma boasted a multi-purpose scan-able card, that he said could be used for parking, shopping, student registration, etc., and once the card is swiped in a special door by a child, for example, it “sends a signal to their mother’s mobile phone, telling their mothers they have safely arrived at school,” he added.
“The Republic of China (Taiwan) is among the leading countries in the world in the information technology industry, for which Taiwan boasts great fame,” said a summary of the ICT agreement provided by the Belize Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
That agreement places great emphasis on e-Government technology, which the World Bank defines as, “the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks (WAN), the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.”
Even though the Belize government is suffering with a botched WAN system installed by the defunct Intelco, some proponents of e-Government argue that it adds easy and long-distance access, is more convenient and speeds up transactions.
However, there are those who fear the electronic technology, on the basis of claims that it is really an excuse for hyper-surveillance, whereby a citizen’s personal information is available in a computer database and privacy may be sacrificed.
The 7-page ICT agreement signed today, which officials said would be fixed in both Chinese and English, stipulates that the Government is responsible for the administration and the upkeep of the ICT Center, and the provision of tax/duty exemptions for Taiwanese project officers, in line with what other such foreign agents receive.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has agreed to defray the construction costs of the ICT building, provide the computers to stock the center, and dispatch experts and technicians to work on the project.
“The total investment at the initial stage of the ICT cooperation project between our two countries is US$300,000,” officials inform.