“Trade with Mexico Will Likely Expand” – Oscar Arnold

Sheinbaum’s victory came in the largest election in Mexico’s history. In addition to the presidential race, Mexicans also voted for candidates contesting more than twenty thousand positions across Mexico. And as Mexican women celebrate that one of them has achieved this first ever victory, Mexico’s policies on trade and bilateral relations with Belize will likely expand. Ambassador Arnold shares his thoughts on this issue.

 

Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico

“We have an ongoing discussion with a formal trade agreement with Mexico that has been started a couple of years ago. And that will continue. I don’t see that completing itself in her term, because usually these trade negotiations are long and drawn out, but we do see a continuation of some of the policies that were enacted under President Andres Manuel López Obrador. I see some of those continuing and maybe even expanding. One of those is the Sembrando Vidas program, which has also come to Belize, where we’ve seen farmers benefited from technical cooperation as well as our financial assistance for their crops. We also know of the investments of the Tren Maya. Under, President Obrador when he visited Belize, I believe in May of 2021 he made special arrangements for some of our agricultural products. Cattle was already penetrating the Mexican market, but that was expanded to include quite a bit of agricultural products from the, within the borders of Belize. Those, that type of agreement I see can be expanded. There was stuff to include coconuts.  And other, maybe even cacao, which is also being organic cacao is also being produced in Belize. And we just have to when we have these meetings when the Minister of Agriculture, when Beltrade, and so on, when we are interacting with the Mexicans, If there’s a product that we would want to introduce, then we obviously have to make, raise our hands and make them aware that this is what we want to do and then both sides will then work out the nuts and bolts.”