Commonwealth Secretary General announces new partnerships with Belize

Kamalesh Sharma

Over the last three days, Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma was in Belize on a working visit. His stay was kicked off with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. During his stay, Sharma met with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition, Francis Fonseca, Cabinet Members and other leaders. Sharma told the media at a press conference today, that those meetings were informative and provided him with the chance to gain firsthand knowledge of the perspective on the Commonwealth’s work and more importantly, how they can be of more help to Belize and Belizeans. He lauded Belize’s human and natural resources, which he says are key factors that must be developed to their fullest potentials. Sharma gave the Commonwealth’s commitment to assist Belize in continuing to strengthen democracy and pluralism. Prior to his departure today, the Secretary General announced the Commonwealth’s new partnerships with Belize.

Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General

“The Commonwealth is pleased to deepen its partnership with Belize in the years ahead and we will pursue possibilities for new assistance in the following areas: [1]Public Service strengthening, including support for training of public servants; support for improved governance and public bodies; further technical assistance to unlock Belize’s natural resource potential in a sustainable way that provides national benefits and exploring options to provide the public service with enhanced capacity to unlock assistance and finance from other development partners. [2] Building knowledge and skills to develop small and medium enterprises including capacity of these enterprises to generate income from exports. [3] Supporting youth enterprise, including continuing to explore opportunities for commercial banks to support young professional and business creators. [4] Professionalization of the media, including training for journalists and exploration of a voluntary Code of Conduct. Responsibility in this area is particularly relevant in the context of overcoming the current challenge of gang criminality. On Belize and the Guatemala relations, The Commonwealth has long supported the territorial integrity of Belize. Foreign Ministers of all member States review this situation annually and the Heads of Government at their biennial summits. We welcome the prospects of a mutually rewarding resolution of the question between the two neighboring countries through the announcement of a date of a referendum in October 2013.”