The Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning launched its first in a series of yearbooks.
The book catalogues Foreign Affairs work for the past year and states the stance that Belize has on various international obligations and the relationship it shares with various trading blocks and regions. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Godfrey Smith says that more than just being an archival document the foreign policy yearbook serves a reference for everyone from diplomats to scholars.
Hon. Godfrey Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Everyday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or through our embassies abroad we make what are essentially foreign policy decisions and you can't get away from that. The minute you engage in trade with a country, the minute you engage in political dialogue, the minute you attempt to lobby support for a territorial dispute for instance you are engaging in foreign policy. There are few issues that we are asked to support like UN resolutions on a number of controversial things. Then there are decisions involving international organizations like the International Criminal Court or any other institution. But everyday those decisions are made yet we never take time to bring them all together and distill them into a logical and methodological policy document that highlights what we have achieved over the past year. So this 2003 year book attempts to do that."
The publication will become a yearly exercise summarizing Belize's universal foreign policy position.
You can see the year in review at Foreign Affairs at their website: Foreign Affairs.org