3 weeks ago
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Belize and Honduras are moving to deepen cooperation in several key areas following an official visit led by Prime Minister John Briceño earlier this week. Prime Minister Briceño travelled to Tegucigalpa on Monday, where he met with Honduran President Nasry Asfura at the Presidential House. Their discussions focused on health, security, trade, climate change, regional integration and improved connectivity between both countries. In the area of health, the two governments discussed possible collaboration in medical education, specialist training and internship opportunities for Belizean healthcare workers. Health and Wellness Minister Kevin Bernard, who formed part of the Belizean delegation, says the visit opened the door for practical partnerships that could help Belize expand its medical workforce.
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “Of course you know the Prime Minister went on an official visit but part of it was for me to be able to also put out the proposed MOU that we could share with the Honduran government. I know back in 1991 I think they had an MOU where there were cultural and educational exchange. We’re saying let’s see if we can work on a medical exchange program not just or us to extract doctors from Honduras because they themselves as I’ve said they themselves have human resource shortages in health does not only apply to Belize it applies to everybody across the region. So all of us have similar challenges. However they have the opportunities where our Belizean doctors can access their education system as well to do their residency program. And so that’s the type of exchange that we’re talking about, that’s the type of discussion we’re having where we could have mutual exchange of health professionals within both countries. But again that is just the start of a discussion. The technical people will have to meet on both ends and then through diplomatic channels we hopefully we will finalize that sometime down the road. The president that we spoke to is the Minister of Health and so that’s his responsibility and he was very receptive, very supportive and was eager to say let our two countries together to work on an MOU so that we could have that exchange worked out. So I’m very optimistic. It was a wonderful meeting I can tell you that but I’m not going to get into all the other details, I’m just speaking in the health side.”
The leaders also explored the possibility of a trade agreement between Belize and Honduras. Prime Minister Briceño noted that Belize already has trade arrangements with Guatemala and recently signed a Partial Scope Agreement with El Salvador. He says Honduras could become another important partner as Belize strengthens its economic ties with Central America. Security was another major part of the discussions. Both leaders agreed on the need for increased cooperation and intelligence sharing to tackle drug trafficking and other criminal activities that cross national borders. The meeting also covered regional air connectivity and opportunities to make it easier for people and goods to move between Central America and the Caribbean. The visit comes as Belize holds the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Central American Integration System, SICA, for the second half of 2026. Prime Minister Briceño says Belize will use that leadership role to advance regional cooperation while maintaining the country’s longstanding Caribbean identity and relationships.
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