Belize Hosts Regional Border Control Talks Under CSME Initiative

Belize was the host country for a 4-day programme that looked at border controls as they relate to CARICOM’s Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).  Sixteen border control officials from four countries in the Caribbean community, namely, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, landed last week for the National Border Control Officers Attachment Programme. On the itinerary was a visit to the Belize Western Border Station in Benque Viejo del Carmen, as well as the Philip Goldson International Airport, the Belize Port Authority, and the Big Creek Port in the south.  At the various onsite visits, the group met and dialogued with personnel of the Customs and Excise Department and the Belize Agriculture Health Authority. BAHA. Hernan Zetina, Director of Quarantine for BAHA, explained that the delegation helped to identify challenges being faced at the border entry points when receiving certain types of goods and cargo.

Hernan Zetina, Quarantine Technical Director, BAHA: “So we had our senior quarantine inspector at all the points of entry that were visited by the team  explain what our process flows are, how we inspect products,  what is required by the importer, when there is non-compliance what are the procedures that the importer has to undergo, there are certain violations and fines that is involved in the process. And so we explain  all of this to our counterparts. For us, the most important thing was to exchange information on what our processes look like, what their processes look like, and see if we can learn from the different experiences. One of the challenges that they identified in Belize was the infrastructure at the different ports of entry. For example, when they visited the Belize-Northern border station at Santa Elena they realized that there isn’t a lot of infrastructure for perishable products that come in. For example, stuff that are not shelf stable whenever these products are imported, they have to be released very quickly. And because there is no way for, for example, refrigerated reefers to be plugged in at the border and then the process is done probably the following day.  So this was one of the shortcomings or yes, this was identified as a challenge for Belize.”

Perhaps the most salient exercise coming out of these meetings was the identification of the changes and adjustments needed to move ahead with the plan for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).   The idea behind the CSME is to have CARICOM member countries facilitate and allow the free movement of goods, services, and persons between and among the fellow member countries.  With this in mind, Zetina noted that the local participants are expected to present a list of recommendations to be sent to key ministries within the government.

Hernan Zetina, Quarantine Technical Director, BAHA: “This  initiative was being led by the Directorate of Foreign Trade.  And so the Directorate of Foreign Trade will prepare  a comprehensive report on the visit and then they will include all the stakeholders recommendations or challenges and then present that to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also to the Ministry of Finance and Customs falls under the Ministry of Finance.  And then there’s also Border Management that is also included. So whenever we talk about infrastructure at the different border points, the Border Management Agency is  involved.  And it does take some undertaking.  It requires a lot of financing. And so we’re hoping that when the report is presented to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of  Foreign Affairs that they look into it and see how best we can  address these challenges.”

The National Border Control Officers Attachment Programme was an initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Culture.