Government

The Economic Development Council (EDC), through its technical secretariat, the Public-Private Desk in the Office of the Prime Minister, is proud to highlight the official launch of the first-of-its-kind, National MSME Roadshow. The launch took place at the Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel on Friday, August 5th starting at 10:00 a.m. and featured an Access to Finance panel discussion with representatives from the Development Finance Corporation, Central Bank of Belize, the Belize Credit Union League, the National Bank of Belize as well as remarks by the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a keynote address by Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño.

The Governments of Belize and the Republic of Moldova established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level in New York on August 3, 2022. Signing on behalf of the Government of Belize was His Excellency Mr. Carlos Fuller, Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations, and His Excellency Mr. Gheorghe Leucă, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Moldova.

The postponement of the marijuana referendum on whether to legalize the production and sale of this drug may take a bit longer due to the threat of losing affiliated financial institutions in the United States of America (USA). The banking sector in Belize may present a roadblock to the Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Control and Licensing Bill 2022, which has already been passed in the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, August 2nd, the Ministry of Immigration held a soft launch of its planned Amnesty 2022 program. The program will allow eligible persons in Belize to regularize their immigration status and will be open until November 30, 2022. Amnesty Registration Centres were opened across the country. In San Pedro Town, the center is located on the ground floor of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve building. All appointments to apply for residency must be made online at https://immigration.gov.bz/amnesty-appointment/. Applicants will be provided with a date and time when they will be required to visit the amnesty center to submit their application.

August 1, 2022 commemorates the 188th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the 184th anniversary of the abolition of the system of apprenticeship. For the second year, Belize joined its sister Caribbean nations in officially observing Emancipation Day as a public and bank holiday.

On July 29, 2022, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Leyla Moses-Ones and Peace Corps Belize Country Director Tracey Hébert-Seck, presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the first cohort of two-year Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Belize, two years after the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the prior group of volunteers to depart. The ceremony also marks 60 years of Peace Corps service and partnership with Belize. Joining U.S. government officials were Belize Governor General Her Excellency Froyla Tzalam and Minister of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology Hon. Francis Fonseca.

In support of Belize’s effort to enhance its national security and strengthen inter-agency crime-data sharing, the U.S. Embassy presided over a donation that included a high-powered Dell server and three Dell workstations with high-quality monitors on July 28, 2022. This equipment will support improvements in data management by the Belize Police Department and the National Forensic Science Service. The goal is to strengthen inter-agency data sharing, through the Belize Crime Observatory— the national repository of crime data and information—so that criminal investigations can be swift, thorough, and assure justice.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean convened a high-level meeting to advance consideration of the ECLAC Caribbean Resilience Fund in Antigua and Barbuda, from July 26 to 29, 2022.