Prime Minister John Briceno returned from Venezuela over the weekend after a major state visit to Venezuela, the first by a Belizean Head of Government in 21 years.
Video from Venezuelan state media Telesur shows the Prime Minister and President Nicolas Maduro at the "Miraflores" Presidential Palace being received by a guard of honor and a military band playing and singing the Belizean National anthem.
An official release says they committed to work together to conclude agreements for cooperation in trade, energy, tourism, communications, air connectivity, education, culture and housing. Additionally, "President Maduro announced that Petrocaribe was being renewed and expanded to cover products, in addition to petroleum, and that Belize would continue to be one of the beneficiaries." There's also an offer by Venezuela to provide support to Belize in housing and fertilizer after the destruction caused by Hurricane Lisa.
And while all that diplo-speak is charming, based on the contingent that we saw in the videos - including the governor of the Central Bank and the economic ambassador - we'd say the talks were also to discuss the brass tacks of the 450 million Belize dollar Petrocaribe debt that is on the books at the Central Bank. Ever since it re-negotiated the Superbond, the Briceno administration has been trying to also deal with this debt - perhaps attempting to do what Jamaica did - buying it back at a significant discount.
So was it mission accomplished on that front? Well, an official release would only say, "The meeting included important negotiations on the debts owed by Belize to Venezuela on which a new agreement was reached that brings substantial benefits to both countries. The leaders instructed their experts to promptly finalise the details of the new accord."
We'll keep following it closely to see what comes out of those negotiations.
