With just one week remaining before the official signing ceremony, Belize’s Cabinet has formally approved a groundbreaking new partial scope trade agreement with El Salvador that is set to reshape the country’s trade strategy and open new commercial opportunities for domestic producers and entrepreneurs.
The agreement, scheduled to be signed on July 2 in San Salvador, marks the culmination of more than 18 months of deliberate negotiations between the two Latin American nations. Formal talks first kicked off in December 2024, with the inaugural negotiating round hosted in Belmopan, Belize’s capital. Progress moved steadily through subsequent discussions: by the third negotiating session held the following August, trade teams from both sides had reached consensus on every core chapter of the agreement, leaving only two technical annexes to be finalized in the following months.
For Belize, the new trade deal is a core pillar of the government’s broader economic strategy to reduce reliance on traditional export markets by expanding market access across Latin America. Officials emphasize that the agreement will not only diversify Belize’s export footprint but also deepen regional economic integration and unlock new bilateral investment flows for domestic businesses of all sizes.
Agriculture has emerged as a central priority throughout the negotiation process, as Belize seeks to expand access for its farm products to the Salvadoran market. Since El Salvador relies on imports for a large share of its domestic food consumption, government officials view the Central American nation as a high-potential growth market for Belizean agricultural producers. To address logistics barriers for cross-border trade, Belize’s Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson held discussions with Guatemalan officials in March 2025 to coordinate transit arrangements for Belizean goods traveling through Guatemalan territory to reach El Salvador. Negotiators are also working to finalize a complementary memorandum of understanding that will clearly outline which specific products will be covered under the new preferential trade terms.
The approval of the agreement comes at a pivotal moment for Belize’s regional leadership: starting in July 2026, the country will assume the rotating presidency of the Central American Integration System (SICA), a role that will give it the opportunity to shape the regional agenda on issues ranging from cross-border trade to climate disaster preparedness over the next six months.
On the same day that Cabinet issued its approval, Prime Minister John Briceño held a bilateral meeting with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Ulloa. In a statement released alongside the Cabinet’s announcement, Briceño noted that the pair discussed strengthening institutional cooperation, deepening bilateral partnership, and exploring new cross-sector collaboration opportunities that will deliver tangible shared benefits to the people of both nations.