| Belize's maritime boundaries - where are they set and what is the marker? Foreign minister has been roundly criticized for not coming down squarely on the issue. On Monday on Guatemala City he said that it is still not certain due to the territorial dispute:
H.E. Alexis Rosado, Belize's Ambassador to Guatemala
"So it is important for every nation state, every sovereign government to be able to define the limit of their sovereignty and in the maritime spaces they have not been able to do that, because we have not been able to sit down and agree. Every sovereign, free and independent state wants to be able to have clarity as to where the limits of their sovereignty lies. And in the sea they have not arrived at that point yet."
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"In the absence of proper delimitation and demarcation of your land borders, you're not in a position to even begin to deal with your maritime borders. And the Guatemalan land borders just like the Belize land border, is in doubt because of the Guatemalan claim. They are saying that their border is East of Belize City. That is what their saying, that I think is in their constitution, that has got to be resolved. So that's an urgent matter for them."
And another thing the Guatemalans are pushing for is to put the claim behind them. Elrington said it is a matter of economics:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"And I can see the Guatemalans getting tremendous economic benefit for bringing on into dispute. They are already making serious in rows into the CARICOM region. They are already very dominant in SICA. They are moving into strengthening their relationship with the commonwealth countries that we traditionally associated with. So that they are benefiting tremendously from an economic point of view, in taking on this new image of maturity, of been serious of this dispute resolution and the like. In my view, this is enhancing their own statue on the international community and they are benefiting from it, it is encouraging investors and others to treat them with respect and want to invest in their country. So I can see for them, it needs to be remembered that historically they were the ones that were opposed to go to the ICJ unconditionally, but the world has changed and the economics is playing a very great role."
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