Belize Investment Summit opens tomorrow

The Belize Investment Summit kicks off tomorrow, and various agencies are currently putting the final touches on the preparations. The summit, being held at the Grand Caribe Resort in San Pedro Town, is catering to hundreds of people, including government officials, investors, and business owners, to discuss opportunities that exist in Belize. We got a sneak preview of those preparations today from the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service (BELRIADE). Nikki Augustine, Marketing and Communications Manager for BELTRAIDE, says that the summit is aimed at positioning Belize to be a hub for investors to be able to access markets both the Caribbean and Central America.

Nikki Augustine, Marketing and Communications Manager, BELTRAIDE: “It’s pretty much three days of activities starting tomorrow, Wednesday, September 3rd with a welcome cocktail. This is our first opportunity where we give networking opportunities for MSMEs along with other representatives, either investors or government agency representatives.  So this starts off the official Belize Investment Summit. This year we’re under the team “Bridging Markets Building Resilience.”  We are expecting over 500 people again to attend the Belize Investment Summit. On Thursday we start with the official ceremony that is led by the Prime Minister of Belize, of course, and then we have two international guest speakers that will be here. One is Adam Stewart, who is the Executive Chairman of Sandals Resort, so that’s a very big deal for us. And we also have Dr. Ernesto Stain who’s the professor at Mexican University in Monterey. So we have them that will be coming in for the investment summit and that’s where we are right now. We’re still in the final preparation stages but things are looking good.”

Augustine says that this year’s summit will explore opportunities in the blue, green, and orange economies. 

Nikki Augustine, Marketing and Communications Manager, BELTRAIDE: “While we’re trying to ensure especially right now we’re looking at what’s happening globally. And we want people to know that Belize does have the resources to become one of the top areas for investments. So whether we’re looking at agriculture, whether we’re still looking at digital services like the BPO’s it’s still an area that is open for exploration, blue economy and so forth. So the whole purpose of this summit is to show what is available in an investment landscape but also to talk about what the government has achieved especially coming from the last investment summit in 2023. So every year we try to accomplish something as the Government of Belize also. So a key part of that this year is showing some of the achievements that the government can highlight. And so we have a high level ministerial panel and we have ministers from the different areas whether its finance, agriculture, economic transformation,  even from the foreign affairs. And we’re talking about the success stories within these industries itself. But included on the agenda we do have other private sector partners that are talking about what opportunities for investments are available within their areas also. So there’s a strong focus on, of course, Belize’s blue, green, and orange economy and this year we’re really highlighting the orange economy, looking at fashion and what Belize’s fashion landscape has to offer and the investment opportunities that are available there.”

This summit is the third of its kind in the past six years