The Commonwealth Ministerial Committee on Belize, chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Senator the Hon Maxine McClean, and comprising Barbados, Canada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria and Tanzania, as well as Belize and United Kingdom as observers, met on Monday, 16 May 2016, to discuss the recent events taking place in the Adjacency Zone between Belize and Guatemala.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize, Hon Wilfred Elrington briefed the Committee on recent developments, including discussions between the governments of the two countries.
The Committee reiterated and endorsed the firm support of the Commonwealth for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Belize, as expressed consistently and most recently in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Communiqué. The Committee encouraged all concerned to work towards a peaceful and final resolution of the longstanding disagreements concerning the border between Belize and Guatemala.
The Committee encouraged progress to be made through dialogue between Belize and Guatemala, and urged both parties to honour the terms of the Agreements reached in 2005 and 2008.
The Committee commended the Organization of American States (OAS) for its confidence-building and peace-building efforts between Belize and Guatemala, and urged the international community to continue to support these and other similar measures fully and as a matter of urgency.
