E.U. and O.A.S. Signs $6 Million Cooperation Agreement  

The European Union has contributed six million dollars to the Office of the O.A.S. in the Belize/Guatemala Adjacency Zone. The funds will be used to support the O.A.S. in its ongoing work to maintain peace between Belize and Guatemala through its verification exercises and cultural investments. A cooperation agreement was signed today at the Office of the O.A.S. out west. Representatives from the European Union, ambassadors from both Belize and Guatemala, as well as the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amalia Mai was present. C.E.O Mai described the E.U’s financial support as a lifeline for the project.

 

Amalia Mai, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“I always have to recognize that they have gone far beyond the issue of verification. They have now included the cultural aspect, the peace aspect has always been there. But I have found that the trainings being conducted here through grants have been extremely good for both communities on both sides of the adjacency zone. You have extended a lifeline for this project and I can only know and recognize what you said earlier that after the ruling of the court the project takes a new fashion and I am also very happy that you recognize that we will keep knocking at doors for the demarcation of our borders. That will have to come. You cannot have a court ruling and not be ready for that. So we have to prepare for that. We have to prepare our friends for that moment. I think it is going to be we estimate sometime next year after the oral hearings which we don’t have a date but we believe it will be   sometime in the first quarter of next year we should have a decision from the I.C.J. I think on both sides of the fence we have done the right thing. I can’t speak for Guatemala but I think we recognize the referendum, taking this issue to the international Court for a definitive solution has been the right move but both governments from the Guatemala and from Belize. The process was emotional and extensive at times but both populations decided that going to the I.C.J. is the right thing.”