Foreign Minister Elrington also had to rush back to Belize to welcome a slew of international guests.

4 heads of government flew into Belize for a flurry of activity. The Prime Ministers of St. Kitts and Nevis, Timothy Harris, and Ralph Gonsalves were the first to arrive at the airport.

St. Lucia's PM Dr. Kenny Anthony, arrived in the afternoon, and they all came to Belize to meet with the outgoing Taiwanese President, Ma Ying-jeou.

It's his second visit to Belize, as he prepares to leave office. Daniel Ortiz was the airport when he arrived:..

That's the delighted greeting that outgoing Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou was treated to when he landed at the PGIA this morning. Members of the Taiwanese community living in Belize were excited to greet the leader of their native country. Though there was red tape set up to preserve the safety protocols of airport, the President was more than happy to get up close and press flesh with his country men and women who waited for a few hours to see him.

Margaret Hsai - Greeted the President

"This is very joyful because he is a very nice president. Not only friendly personally but also he does care about his people and also the friendship countries for example like Belize."

Jason Chang - Greeted the President

"We feel very excited that our president came to see us in a country over here in Belize and we are very excited to see him here."

Henry - Greeted the President

"Because Taiwan and Belize are friends for so many years so it's a good thing."

Reporter

"How long have you been living here?"

Henry - Greeted the President

"12 years."

Reporter

"You're from Taiwan originally?"

Henry - Greeted the President

"Yes I was born there."

Reporter

"Why did you decide to come out to see the arrival?"

Henry - Greeted the President

"Well because it's our president and it's an honour to be here."

Reporter

"The Taiwanese community, is there any space allotted in his itinerary for you guys to meet up with him?"

Jason Chang

"I believe he's meeting having breakfast tomorrow morning and also an event with bicycles, its for the community."

Sheng-Jye Billy Jou - Greeted the President

"As the younger generation it's showing us that even as the president that is very busy in Taiwan and then doing a lot of public relations with other countries. Even though he is finishing he is still taking his time out to come and visit Belize and also visit the overseas Chinese. So it's a very big part of his as president even though finishing to see the overseas Taiwanese and let them know that he is thinking about us and that we meant something to him and what we're doing as foreign relations for our country is very important to him."

President Ma Ying Jeou's term in office ends in May, and his visit to Belize is perceived as a gesture of goodwill to signal that even though a new leader has been elected to replace him, Taiwan's friendship with Belize will endure.

Orin Wu - Greeted the President

"Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou our president will be out of office May 20th this year and a new president will come in. And every single diplomat will be changed because we have new party coming in the office and Mr. Ma come to show that our time with our allies is very important, nothing will be change not even a couple change; this is from my point of view."

While in Belize, the Taiwanese President will make a courtesy call on Prime Minister Dean Barrow. He will then meet with Timothy Harris, the Prime Minister of the St. Kitts and Nevis. After that, he will meet with Dr. Kenny Anthony, the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, and finally, Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and Grenadines, all of whom arrived in Belize today.

President Ma Ying Jieou has a full itinerary which starts very early tomorrow, and his trip concludes at midday when he flies out of the country on the chartered plane he arrived in.

President Ma visited Guatemala and the USA before arriving in Belize.

President Ma Ying-Jeou leaves office on May 20^th.

Right now, the Heads of State of Belize; Taiwan; St. Lucia; St. Kitts and Nevis; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are all engaged in Round Table discussions and we'll have video of that later.