For the past year, negotiations in the diplomatic realm between Guatemala and Belize have not been going well. In fact, the once revered Ramphal/Reichler proposals (remember those?) have collected more dust than trees on the side of a dirt road.
But while diplomacy falters, trade talks have been moving along smilingly. Today, trade delegations from both countries concluded the second round of trade talks for a Partial Scope Trade Agreement. What does "partial scope" mean? Well it's not the free trade agreement that was envisaged in the Ramphal/Reichler proposals; under partial scope both countries would only trade in an agreed upon list of products. That is meant to ease the fears of Belizeans who fear that our fragile market will be flooded with cheaper, competing products from Guatemala. The architects assure that won't happen.
Belize's Director Of Foreign Trade Jose Alpuche and Guatemala's Vice-Minister of Trade Enrique Lacs held a press conference this afternoon to discuss the agreement. Alpuche says that it is a homegrown initiative and it originated in the citrus industry.
Jose Alpuche, Dir. of Foreign Trade
"We've been talking about the trade agreement with Guatemala for a longtime and the real impetus for this current drive in which we're seeing, making, serious advances comes directly from the private sector. Its led principally by a possible joint venture between two major industries, one here in Belize and another in Guatemala, where they've recognized the synergies that will occur in having this joint venture materialize. To be more specific it is with the citrus industry. But as I said earlier there is already a tremendous amount of cross-border trade coming from Guatemala as well as going from Belize to Guatemala. In our case, a lot of the trade is done, and we all know it, informally. We now need to formalize that trade so that there is more predictability, more certainty; that the middle men involved in this trade are actually taken out and the true beneficiaries will be the producers and the enterprises doing the products, making the products for export. So in that respect, this agreement will yield tremendous benefits to our private sector."
Discussing the long history of failed agreements between Belize and Guatemala including the recent floundering of the Ramphal/Reichler proposals, Lacs said that the trade agreement has been embraced by his Government. The next round of talks is set for May in Guatemala.
