Economic Development Council

The National Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Roadshow have arrived in San Pedro Town. The initiative created by the Government of Belize supporting and guiding businesses under the MSME category will take place on the island from Wednesday, October 26th, through Friday, October 28th, at the San Pedro Lions Den on Barrier Reef Drive. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to take advantage of these services offered throughout the three-day event. In addition, aspiring entrepreneurs are asked to submit their business ideas. At the end of the event, three persons will be selected to receive $2,500 each to support their project.

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.

As part of the Green Climate Fund (GCF)-funded Readiness Support for Strengthening Belize Private Sector Access to Climate Finance Project, a kick-off meeting was convened on November 16, 2021 to launch a collaborative process with a Private Sector Focus Group of key Belizean private sector partners. These partners belong to a broad range of organisations, from large corporations with in-depth sectoral expertise, financial institutions and regulators, national institutions promoting private sector engagement and inclusion, and trade associations.

The EDC serves as the Government of Belize’s official mechanism for dialogue between the public and private sectors and is specifically mandated to advise the Cabinet and wider government on matters of impediment affecting the ability to conduct legitimate business in Belize.

The Government of Belize, through the Economic Development Council, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) – funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, the Caribbean Development Bank, and the Government of Canada – announced a partnership with Le Wagon, a world-leading coding school, to launch a data analysis training bootcamp targeting Belizean youths on June 7th, 2021.

In order to preserve the Chiquibul-Mountain Pine Ridge-Caracol Complex's (CMCC) invaluable ecosystems and the benefits they provide to the people of Belize, the Economic Development Council (EDC) through its Technical Secretariat, the Public-Private Desk in the Office of the Prime Minister, has successfully launched a Sustainable Development Plan for the Chiquibul-Mountain Pine Ridge-Caracol Complex. The 15-year Sustainable Development Plan will serve as the Government of Belize’s reference master plan for balanced, environmentally-conscious resource use in this region.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, through the Building Sector Reform Project, and in partnership with the Economic Development Council continues to strengthen its bilateral relations with Mexico on the subject of construction sector development.

Innovation in new products and services, exploiting the new infrastructure of the faster bandwidths from DigiNet and the host of automated, digitized electronic services the Government is rolling out, will be the key to new jobs, more earnings, and economic growth, Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow promised at a business forum hosted by the Economic Development Council at the Belize City Center on Thursday morning, February 21.