The CARICOM Secretary General has also been on a longer visit - meeting with Government officials and the private sector. Today he met with the media where a number of issues were discussed including Belize's role in the Caribbean as a bread basket and a gateway to Central America:..

Irwin La Rocque, CARICOM Secretary General
"Belize is well known in the rest of the region for two products; red kidney beans and citrus juices; very well know and we have had a traditional market of exporting those products to the rest of Caricom. We know that corn products are now being exported from Belize into Jamaica. Jamaica is a major consumer if corn products; corn meal porridge in the famous songs of reggae and so on. You are also exporting citrus products to the Dominican Republic and we have a vibrant poultry association here, poultry producer."

"I was very heartened to hear a little of engagement and they've put forward a proposal which I think has great merit in it is the role of the Belizean private sector in bridging the gap between the rest of Caricom and the rest of Central America. Belize has that position of being in both. Belize understands the business culture of Central America, more so than the rest of Caricom does."

LaRocque pledged to forge closer ties with the Belizean media.