In our first segment, we showed you our interview with Tracy Taegar-Panton and her perspective on Sunday's convention for Leader of the United Democratic Party.
She lost the contest against "Shyne" Barrow by only 3 votes, and today, Barrow was already making moves in his official capacity. This morning, he had a meeting with Bernard Wagner, the Mayor of Belize City to discuss the establishment of sister-city relations with the City of New York.
As viewers will remember that Barrow played an important role in establishing similar relations between Belize City with the New Jersey City of Newark. And now, through his interactions with the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, Belize City now has a formal relationship with The Big Apple.
Our news team was at City Hall this morning when Barrow exited Mayor Bernard Wagner's Office with a signed Friendship Agreement between the two municipalities.:
Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Leader of Opposition
"The Mayor has just signed, as you see, the document here before you. So, this is a historic day. New York City is the biggest city in the world. So, while I was pleased to establish sister relations with Newark, this right here is monumental, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of this sister-city relationship with the biggest city in the World. I thank Mayor Eric Adams for keeping his word. He had just sent the agreement to me last week, but obviously, we were campaigning, and I was busy trying to make sure that I got elected to be Leader of the party, and I'm just grateful that all of the efforts that I make when I go abroad for bilateral relations are proven fruitful. New York City is the biggest city in the world, and I would argue the richest city in the world. So, they're talking in tunes of 10s of billions of dollars that they have, and that would be able to help the municipality of Belize City, with things such as a backhoe, a grader. The Mayor has a master plan that he was sharing with me, which he presented in Taiwan. He just came back from Taiwan. So just as far getting equipment, as far as cultural exchange, as far as tourism, as export - there may be things they are consuming that Belize could provide for them. The limit is none when it comes to the possibilities of this relationship. It's up to the Mayor and whoever may succeed him and the council to make that relationship work, but this is the start, and the promise of this is tremendous. New York City is the biggest city in the world, so they don't have to do anything with anyone, and yes, we have a rich culture that can certainly contribute to any part of the world, but the Mayor of New York City obviously believes in me, believes in my vision for Belize, and wants to help. And he has shown that by signing this document."
