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CARICOM Heads Talked Regional Issues
Mon, February 20, 2017
The 28th inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Georgetown Guyana ended on Friday. Key issues were regional security, discussion of the carom single market and economy, correspondent banking, and tourism in the region.

Today we spoke to Ambassador Daniel Gutierrez about how this pressing issues were handled:...

Daniel Gutierrez - Belize Ambassador, CARICOM
"There were many things discussed as you might imagine. However, perhaps some of the things that were front and foremost were the CSME, and also the Belize Guatemala issue, corresponded banking, the heads of government listen carefully to the situation regarding the Belize/Guatemala border issues. They listened attentively like I said and towards the end as the documents coming from the conference will show, they strongly back Belize's position and unquestionably backed where we are and how we are going with this."

Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"The topic of the Belize/Guatemala relations, I understand that there was a statement released on the progress of the Sarstoon protocol. Could you comment on that and what came out of that?"

Daniel Gutierrez - Belize Ambassador, CARICOM
"No I cannot. I can only tell you what the conference said and the conference was very supportive of Belize's position."

Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"Sir, I understand regional security was also a topic, do you want to discuss?"

Daniel Gutierrez - Belize Ambassador, CARICOM
"It was indeed, there are any number of issues that pertain to regional security. Some of it was dealt with caucus and as you know that is not something that is publicly dealt with but there is a concern. There are drugs moving through the region, that is a significant concern for us. There are any numbers of other issues that have to do with security and those were discussed in details in the conference indeed."

Reporter
"Economics, de-risking, is that still upfront?"

Daniel Gutierrez - Belize Ambassador, CARICOM
"Absolutely, I will tell you Marisol that de-risking not something that worries Belize alone. of course Belize's Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda have been single out in terms of what they have been doing, but it is not only affecting Belize. It is affecting many countries in the Caribbean, so it was discussed at length. I can tell you that there is no easy solution on the horizon, the central bankers of the region have come together, they have looked at different things that can be done. Clearly, our caucus of ambassadors in Washington will have their work cut out for them in terms of working closer with the incoming Trump administration to see what can be done because it has been described before and it is being still described as a private sector de-risking situation."

The joint communique issued at the end of the meeting says, quote, "Heads of Government noted, with regret, that the undertaking by both countries and the Organisation of American States (OAS), to engage in the design and development of a mechanism of co-operation for the Sarstoon River, remains outstanding and urged both countries and the OAS to redouble their efforts in this respect."





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