Brussels 20 November 2018/ACP/: As part of Belize currant pro tempore presidency of the Central American Integration System (SICA), the Mission of Belize to the European Union convened a seminar on 16 November 2018 in Brussels that brought together for the first time the Missions of SICA Member states and the Missions of CARIFORUM Member states with key European Union counterparts to further explore prospects for Central American and Caribbean cooperation in the context of relations with the EU.

The seminar was a follow-up on the informal exchanges between Heads of Missions of both sub-regions that took place in Brussels in 2014 under Belize’s SICA Group coordination.

The seminar attracted participation of all eight SICA and fifteen CARIFORUM Embassies resident in Brussels and included participation from nine EU officials of the European external actions services (EEAS) and the European Commission’s DG DEVCO.

Participants shared priority issues from the regions, identified follow up actions for cooperation and highlighted the importance of such inter-regional dialogues in Brussels. All participants converged on the need to hold such interactions on an annual basis.

H.E Dr Dylan Vernon, Ambassador of Belize to the European Union, and current coordinator of the SICA Group in Brussels, was the overall chair of the seminar.