7 News Belize

A New Office In Casa De Fiori
posted (November 11, 2016)
The new office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was officially inaugurated today. The lavish $3 million building is located at #10 St. Mark's Street not far from the Municipal airstrip. It is a major upgrade compared to the office space they shared with NEMO in Belmopan. Today at a short ceremony, Minister Elrington told us they have been long awaiting an office of their own. He also expressed how important this building will be in the Ministry's operations.

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is perhaps the most important ministry in the country in terms of the safety and security of our country, because to a very large extent the frontline force for dealing with security matters internationally is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You have to talk, you have to settle matters peacefully and by discussion and agreement in writing and in the 35 years of our independence, we have not have a building dedicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The building which we use in Belmopan now we are borrowing it from NEMO ministry and the most deplorable aspect of it is that Taiwanese have been giving us monies for years for the purposes of strengthening our ministry of foreign affairs and the money was not in fact used to build a building. So we were very happy to take this opportunity to in fact utilize the funds that they have been making available for years."

Courtney Weathernburne
"Why wasn't it used for that purpose?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Those politicians who were in office at that time. We did not miss this opportunity, it was a golden opportunity to get a decent building that all Belizeans can be very proud of."

The building was changed from Casa de Fiori to the Laing Building. H.E Edward Laing was a highly regarded jurist, professor, diplomat and intellectual.

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