Media Center

Press Release


At OAS, Belize and Guatemala Begin Negotiations to Cooperate in the Sarstoon River

  June 22, 2016

The delegations of Belize and Guatemala, headed by their respective Foreign Ministers, met Tuesday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC with Secretary General Luis Almagro to begin to negotiate the terms of a cooperation mechanism for the Sarstoon River, as had been agreed by the Parties in Istanbul, Turkey, where they met within the framework of the World Humanitarian Summit May 23-24, 2016.

In this regard, the General Secretariat of the OAS is pleased to inform that good progress was made during the meeting, which concentrated on the development of best practices for the de-escalation of tensions in the Sarstoon River.

The meeting was held with the full participation of the Secretary General of the OAS and his staff and was attended by the relevant institutions in the process. The Ministers were accompanied by the Commanders of the Belize Defense Force and of the Guatemalan Army, the countries' Ambassadors to the White House, and the Permanent Representatives to the OAS, among other high ranking diplomats.

Reference: E-078/16