AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News Mexican President Flying Into Belize For A Quick Meet

The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is coming to Belize on Saturday for about four hours - part of a whirlwind tour of Central America and Cuba.

He leaves Mexico today after Cinco De Mayo celebrations and heads to Guatemala, then El Salvador, Honduras, Belize and finally Cuba. News outlets in Mexico say he will only spend a few hours in in each country and meet his counterpart heads of state - returning to Mexico on Sunday evening. In Belize, he lands on Saturday at 11:30, and flies out by 4:00 pm.

President Lopez Obrador will be accompanied by his Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Navy.

And they will be talking to Central American leaders, including Prime Minister Briceno about the control of migration from the Central American triangle into Mexico. Most of them are transmitting through Mexico en route to the United States. The five-day trip comes on the heels of talks with the U.S. government on joint actions to curb rising northward migration flows.

At a press conference on Wednesday he said, quote, "We are convinced we have to address the causes (of migration) and create jobs in Central American countries."

Channel 7

Prime Minister Hon. John Brice�o today welcomed the President of the United Mexican States, Andr�s Manuel L�pez Obrador, on a working visit to Belize.

The visit included a bilateral meeting and a signing of a Letter of Intent for the implementation of the Sowing Life project in Belize by Hon. Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration, and Mr. Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

======================

Jose Abelardo Mai Ow South:

Today, 7 May 2022, the Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited Belize.

He announced to the nation that all Belizean Agriculture products, including cattle will be allowed to enter Mexico free of tariffs!

This is one of the greatest moments in the history of both nations!!

Our government had been seeking reduction of tariffs for cattle since we were elected. Minister Courtenay and his team have spent days working to achieve an acceptable Trade Agreement that would benefit our producers!!

Today, this announcement on the zero tariffs on agriculture products will radically change the future of agriculture in our nation.

On behalf of the farmers and people of Belize, I thank President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the government of Mexico for granting us such opportunity. The farmers and their families are truly grateful!

I thank Minister Eamon Courtenay and his team for the perseverance and commitment to the agro productive Sector.

Thanks to our Prime Minister for always supporting our farmers and their families.

But to God be all praises. He has heard the cry and answered the prayers of our Belizean Farmers and their families!!

GOD IS GREAT!!

Official visit of the President of Mexico, His Excellency Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador


Official Statements from Mexican President and PM Briceno



Mexico's President's official visit: Mexico and Belize sign agreements on agriculture, trade, and tourism

After Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador arrived at the Philip Goldson International Airport after 11:30AM, he was escorted to the Belize City, where he and his delegation met with Prime Minister Brice�o at the Edward Laing Building. After a short bilateral meeting, both leaders provided statements to the media present. They confirmed that both countries' ministers of foreign affairs (Hon. Eamon Courtenay and Marcelo Ebrard) had signed a document to implement the Sowing Life project in Belize. This agricultural program will benefit rural producers with training and the introduction of agro-silvo-pastoral production systems. This program also aims to contribute to food security and job creation. Recently, Belize has begun to export cattle to Mexico, and efforts will continue to further facilitate this trade between both countries.

There were also talks about the development of "Escuela M�xico" programme of support for three educational institutions specializing in technical vocation. With these additions, there will be a total of four Mexico Schools in Belize since there is currently one campus in the Corozal District. While in tourism, the parties agreed to explore the feasibility of linking the 'Maya Train' intercity rail system in southeastern Mexico with northern Belize. Another topic discussed was the strengthening of air connectivity between the two countries. Negotiations are to resume regarding a past Air Transport Agreement to promote tourism and economic flows. President Obrador stated that to support the trade and productive sector in Belize, Mexico will no longer charge import taxes on Belizean products. This is to reduce the costs of exporting products such as rice, livestock, and other primary staples to the giant neighbor consisting of over 100 million people. In the area of infrastructure, both parties agreed to exchange experiences in the construction of strategic infrastructure to develop the manufacturing and the other regions like the tourism sector.

Click here to read the rest of the article in the San Pedro Sun

AMLO Arrives

Mexican President, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador whipped through Belize on Saturday as part of a tour of Central America and Cuba. He spent all of four hours - most of it meeting with Prime Minister John Briceno and then lunching with senior government officials.

7news was at the airport to see his arrival and Daniel Ortiz reports:

For his first official visit to Belize, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, arrived a few minutes after midday on Saturday.

Shortly after his Presidential Jet, Mexicana," touched down at the PGIA, he was warmly welcomed by members of Belize's military, plain-clothes police, and Belize's Foreign Affairs Ministry representatives.

First to greet him on Belizean soil were the Foreign Affairs CEO, Amalia Mai, Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Courtenay, and Ambassador Oscar Arnold.

The President's trip to Belize was scheduled to last only a few hours. So, the Belize Government's logistical arrangements were promptly activated.

President López Obrador and his entourage were quickly transported to the Laing Building in Belize City, where he and Prime Minister John Briceno were expected to engage in bilateral talks to deepen friendship and collaboration between their neighboring countries.

Prime Minister Briceno told us a few hours earlier that trade would feature as an important topic in his discussions with the Mexican President.

John Briceno - Prime Minister of Belize
"We've been trying to get open markets, certainly in the US, Europe, etc., but Mexico is right next to us. We have approximately 120 million Mexicans, and they need to eat. We are right next door. It's just a river that separates us. So, we're looking at the opportunities in cattle and certain products. For instance, I know they've been asking about sorghum and if we can grow sorghum in Belize for them. We're looking at the issues of certain fruits and vegetables where we have a competitive advantage, certain other meats like poultry, pork, and eggs: food. When we look at Mexico, as I told the President the last time I was with him - and other colleagues in Mexico - we're not interested in selling to them all the way in way in Monterrey. If we can sell to them in Quintana Roo alone, that is more than enough for us. Quintana Roo has what - 8-10 million visitors coming in, and Quintana Roo does not have a strong agricultural industry. So, we are trying to find ways how we can get our shrimp, our fish, and the other seafood that we'll be able to sell. It's an opportunity that we can have, and if we convince them - and I think we're almost there - to reduce the taxes that they charge for our products, we're going to be competitive, and then that will be a lot of opportunities for our people."

During his remarks, the President thanked the Government and the people of Belize for their warmth and hospitality.

H.E. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - President of Mexico (Translated)
"It's a pleasure to be in this country with these people, neighbors, and brothers of our Republic. Our countries share history, culture, and borders."

Briceno and AMLO In Bi-Lateral

From there, the president went to Belize City to meet with the PM and deliver an official statement. Courtney Menzies has that story from the Laing building:

From the Philip Goldson International Airport, the President of the United Mexican States made his way to the Edward Laing Building on St. Mark Street.

It was there, in front of a sea of cameras and reporters, that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke about what's in store for the future of the two neighbouring countries.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of the United Mexican States
"[Spanish] We have an agreement with the Prime Minister so that Mexico could remove our tariffs on products that Belize could export into our country. I'm saying that they will be able to export from Belize to Mexico, food products, agricultural products, beef, and others, basic food products, without paying the custom duties, suspended tariffs."

And after the president's speech, Prime Minister John Briceno took the stand to express his gratitude for the relationship between Belize and Mexico.

Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"We have always had this special relationship between both countries, between Mexico and Belize. We've always looked at Mexico as our big brother, somebody that we could always depend on, that would help us and the issue of trade is one that has been a challenge for us for decades, for many years, we have been importing from Mexico, and we sell very little."

"By removing these taxes, the import taxes into Mexico, it would give our Belizean farmers the opportunity to compete. I can remember for many years when we were in government between 1998 and 2008, we worked very hard to be able to export rice into Mexico but we were never successful in that. With the opportunities that the president is giving us today, we will be able to export rice, cattle, shrimp, fish, corn, beans, many products that they need to be able to eat in Mexico. And this is going to be a game changer for Belize, not only for the farmers but for us as a country that we'll be able to export all these products."

But that's not all - an agreement between the two countries will see a major change in the agriculture sector.

Hon. Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"Sembrando Viva is a Mexican unique program to support small producers in Central America, Honduras, Salvador, Guatemala and now Belize. Mexico has offered to provide assistance to 2,000 farmers. It means that 2,000 farmers will be getting a small stipend monthly for 4 months to produce selected quantities which we have to determine yet the technical team at agriculture. They will also provide agro-inputs for the production of these commodities. We estimate that it could be between 8-10 million dollars that this program will be supporting in term of value of the project, so it is a tremendous boost to the productive sector, its targeting small farmers and I think that this is one of the greatest moments in the history of these two countries."

Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"A program that can help our people in the rural areas, our poor people, that can help stem migration away from our countries because by working in agriculture, working in the rural areas, Mexico is assisting us to be able to work with at least 2,000 farmers, assisting us with technology, assisting some of the inputs we would need and also with even funding to be able to have these 2,000 farmers. So this again is another game changer for us in Belize."

Following the speeches, members of both countries' Cabinets sat down for lunch before the president jetted off to the next leg of his tour in Cuba.

This was the third meeting between Belize's PM and Mexico's president. A joint communique says that they agreed to explore the development of "Escuela México" programme of support for three educational institutions which specialize in technical vocation. Additionally, they both instructed the competent authorities to hold technical meetings to explore the feasibility of linking the "Mayan Train", with Belize.

After his stop in Belize - he flew off to Cuba where his tour ended.

President Lopez Obrador's tour was explicitly to discuss initiatives to prevent Central American citizens from pressing into Mexico in attempts to get into the United States.

Channel 7

Coming out of the recent visit of Mexican President Andr�s Manuel L�pez Obrador, an agreement has been signed which will see our northern neighbour remove all tariffs on Belize food and agricultural products exported to Mexico. This is a historic agreement which will immediately provide a boost in our productive sector which now has real and ready access to a huge market which has previously been difficult to access.