Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai and a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise return to Belize today after having a very successful meetings in Mexico on opportunities expected for new agriculture export.

During the visit, the Belize delegation met with Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Victor Villalobos Arambula, the Director and senior staff of the National Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Service (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad – SENASICA), and representatives from Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade. Resulting from the meetings is Mexico’s commitment to continue facilitating the smooth export of beef cattle and to provide full support for the resumption of shrimp exports from Belize to Mexico. In addition, a new opportunity for Belize to export de-husked green coconuts was approved and the procedure to prepare protocols for the export of soybean and soybean meal was put into motion.

The success of the ongoing bilateral agricultural cooperation between Mexico and Belize focusing on soursop, pitahaya, dragon fruit, soybean and coconut was also discussed and both Minister Mai and Secretary Villalobos committed to continue strengthening the agriculture cooperation program between the two countries.

Accompanying Minister Mai to Mexico City were Chief Executive Officer, Servulo Baeza; Managing Director of BAHA, Ms. Zoe Zetina; Director of Plant Health at BAHA, Francisco Gutierrez; and Chairman of BAHA Board of Directors and Programme Director for Diversification in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Hugh O’Brien.

The Belize delegation left Belize on Monday, June 12th, 2023, and returned on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023.