And while the Sarstoon and the GAF was one of the issues that the FM and the PM discussed with the Guatemalan president, they also spoke about the current territorial claim before the ICJ. While a decision on the case won't be forthcoming in the near term, Fonseca said there were pressing matters that needed to be resolved even before that. He explained more today.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We discuss the whole issue of the process that's taking place, the timeline and our commitment which is very very important. It's very important that every time we meet we discuss our shared commitment to accepting the decision, respecting that decision and of course there is follow -up work once the decision has been made in terms of the boundaries and delimited all of those issues."
"So there are critical issues that we need to discuss but we always use the opportunity as well to make the point that there are certain issues on the ground like the Sarstoon, the deforestation, the cattle ranching that's taking place in Belize."
"We always make the point that we can't wait for the decision of the ICJ to resolve these issues and so we need to work together to establish mechanisms, if you like, protocols if you like, that will help us to deal with these very important issues."
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