Belize Chamber of Commerce Calls Out PM Briceno for Lack of Quarterly Meetings

Prime Minister John Briceno is being called out by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) for not living up to his commitment to meet with the chamber on a quarterly basis.  According to the President of the BCCI, Marcello Blake, the last meeting with the Prime Minister was in last quarter of 2022.

Marcelo Blake, President, BCCI: “I can tell you we’ve had our challenges with meeting with the Prime Minister. Our last meeting with him was last November, and we’ve been requesting because we had agreed that we would have quarterly meetings and we’ve religiously sent our requests to get that quarterly meeting and we’ve not been able to and we’re now in, what, July of 2023. Our last almost close meeting, when I say close because there was a date decided and a confirmation sent and then a few days before that meeting, that June meeting was canceled. So the dialogue is not where it needs to be when it comes to our conversation with government. When situations like these come up, we’ve been trying to make sure we remain at the table in the conversation but as we’ve seen with the current price control we’re never consulted because these would be some of the things that we point out. It’s not that we’re against. Don’t get me wrong. We are not against trying to find a solution to help alleviate the inflation. It’s a matter of how we go about it because we are very keen on making sure that yes, there’s a partnership between private sector and government but it has to be that both parties are willing to come with an open mind and be able to come to the solutions that are necessary to be able to move this country forward.”