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Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Guatemalan encroachments in the Chiquibul and other protected areas, Human trafficking, Contraband And the drug trade, these are a few of the major border issues that Belize faces. But not only Belize, the entire region.

And today members of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States gathered at the Biltmore to discuss those issues and more at a Citizen Security workshop. It's the closing workshop in a series of consultations and it is the first time it is being held in Belize.

H.E Dylan Vernon, Ambassador of Belize to the European Union and Belgium
"CELAC and the EU in 2015 agreed on a joint plan of action to do together an analysis of some of the issues facing both regions and how we can work together on them. And one of these issues is one of citizen security and how best to address it in a bi-regional level so there have been two seminars before this, one in the Hague and one in Panama and this is the final one in Belize."

Representatives from about 31 member states were present and the idea is to unite and devise a collective security strategy with a focus on three components.

H.E Dylan Vernon, Ambassador of Belize to the European Union and Belgium
"The event in Belie is looking at three areas of approaching these big problems we all face with security of our citizens one being border control, the other being the sharing of information between police in the region and with the European Union and finally the role of civil society and local government in addressing these issues."

But addressing and discussing these issues in a room is just one part of it. Action and enforcement is critical.

Malgorzata Wasilewska, EU Ambassador to Jamaica, Belize, Cayeman Islands
"We do want to make this workshop reach some concrete outcomes on cooperation because it is no secret to you and anybody else that crime and security, organized crime in particular are a major challenge for this wider region."

"I think this is the forum to discuss whether that regional cooperation and cross regional cooperation is enough or whether more can be done and I think more can be done, also because the criminals re-organize themselves and take advantage of opportunities faster today than we can come up with responses. That is why we need to work together. And it essential particularly on investigation and intelligence sharing that there is political will as well as regulatory provisions to provide good technical cooperation. Intelligence is essential, without good intelligence we cant do anything."

"If one country has intelligence and doesn't share it with another that means that citizens of the other country are exposed despite the fact that we may have intelligence on what is going on."

"The most important thing is that these seminars are not talk shops. We have to have concrete results and things have to work differently as a result of them otherwise we would be wasting everyone's time."

The workshop ends tomorrow with a field visit to the OAS office at the Benque border.