Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (DUBAI)
Guatemalan ministers on Tuesday expressed their desire to strengthen ties with the UAE and the broader Arab world, pointing to strong opportunities for cooperation between Central America and the Middle East.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Julio Orozco, Guatemala's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said he viewed his visit as both a diplomatic and learning opportunity, hoping to deepen engagement with the UAE across various sectors.
"This forum provides the opportunity to strengthen multilateral relations, but of course, to know more about each other, to understand what governments are doing in order to create better opportunities for business, political and diplomatic relations," he told Aletihad.
"We are trying to benchmark how the Emirates is doing, in order to do better ourselves, and to let them know that Guatemala can be one of the strong partners in Central America."
Orozco noted that his country already maintains extensive trade ties with the Middle East, particularly through the export of coffee and cardamom. However, he hopes to expand these partnerships, creating new opportunities in trade and business.
"We are very complimentary countries and regions, we are in the middle of America, the continent, so we provide more benefits and more opportunities that we would like the Emirates to take advantage of," he said.
He was joined by Harris Whitbeck, Guatemala's Minister of Tourism, who praised the UAE as a model for tourism development and expressed hope that his country could learn from its success.
"I think the way that tourism has developed here over the last three, four decades is a huge lesson that we can learn from," he told Aletihad on Tuesday.
"I visited the UAE several times over the last few years, and I always go back home inspired and hoping that visitors will come to us."
Whitbeck said he was excited to engage in discussions surrounding the adoption of technology, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to refine tourism strategies and attract more visitors. A learning he said he would take back to Guatemala.
"I think just to have the opportunity to exchange ideas, to be exposed to different ways of doing things, and to be able to have the opportunity to tell the story about how we are doing things, is very valuable, especially in today's world," he said.
