Cabinet hints at legislative agenda for Friday’s House Meeting

Prime Minister John Briceño and his Cabinet met for their regular Tuesday meeting this week. There have been several pieces of news to come from this particular meeting, including Cabinet’s approval for the presentation of a loan motion at the next sitting of the House of Representatives tomorrow. This loan motion of ten million U.S. dollars will be to promote the digitization of firms and government agencies, to promote growth and increase efficiency in Belize’s economy and reduce costs for citizens through the digitization of civil registration services. This loan is being facilitated through the Inter-American Development Bank on favourable terms. The group of Ministers gave its approval for the introduction of amendments to the Money Laundering and Terrorism Prevention Bill to satisfy the requirements of the Financial Task Force concerning laws regarding national anti-money laundering, combatting the financing of terrorism and combatting proliferation financing. Cabinet says that after learning of some of the challenges and concerns currently facing producers in the Dairy Sector, Cabinet requested that the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade & Immigration initiate a comprehensive assessment of the sector in Belize. As part of tomorrow’s legislative agenda, Cabinet gave its approval for the introduction of the Legal Aid Bill 2023 to put in place a proper legal structure to provide legal aid services to indigent citizens and to ensure that they are provided with adequate legal services. This bill will be introduced at this Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives. In this connection, Cabinet also approved amendments to the Senior Courts Act to repeal Section 225 for legal aid to be managed through the Legal Aid Commission and not the Office of the Registrar