Ms Caoimhe Ní Chonchúir:

I believe there is a straightforward answer to that. While Belize geographically would be considered part of Central America, culturally it tends to see itself more as part of the Caribbean group. Belize formed part of the CARIFORUM group, a delegation from which appeared before the committee prior to Christmas with the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, in regard to the EU free trade agreement that replaced the Cotonou deal. In terms of the mechanisms for oversight, there are various levels of oversight, ministerial oversight, official level oversight and the creation of this parliamentary committee, which is an interesting innovation. This will improve the capacity of Central American parliaments. There is also a civil society dialogue forum, which is an excellent innovation and will encourage Central American society to build its oversight capacity. The agreement foresees that where any party feels there may be a problem with workers or environmental rights, they can call for the creation of a panel of independent experts who will adjudicate on those standards and in a transparent manner deliberate and deliver a public report. It is also foreseen that if the balance of trade becomes drastically disproportionate in a given country, that country can implement measures to redress that and can temporarily suspend the agreement. I hope that addresses some of the concerns.