US Ambassador Says Private is Sector Key to Belize’s Economic Growth

On another issue, the U.S. Ambassador to Belize André Bauer says the private sector has an important role in improving the country’s economy. Reporters met with the ambassador today at the annual general meeting of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, which represents hotels, tour operators, restaurants, guides and other tourism businesses across the country.   Bauer spoke about the U.S. Embassy’s support for efforts to create more economic opportunities in Belize. 

André Bauer, US Ambassador to Belize: “The private sector can do so much to improve the living conditions of people in Belize, opportunities, investment, but part of the mission of the U.S. government that they sent me down here for is economic development and creating new opportunities. And so I want to see folks that are wanting to invest in Belize. If there are obstacles or things that, especially if they’re American companies that want to come down here and invest, we want to do all we can to facilitate new opportunities, new investment so that young people and the people of Belize have more chances, more choices, more ways to make revenue and to increase the level of quality of life for all Belizeans. Of course, we don’t want just the Americans to be invested. We want Belizeans to be invested. This is a strong partnership. We are going to do what we can if there are obstacles, whether in U.S. government or in of the Belizean government part of my job is to try to figure out how we get around those obstacles. How can we make it a more friendly environment to do business here, to want to spend money here and want to come here and visit and so all those are things that the more dollars we have down here the more opportunities there are for everyone. So sometimes government can be an impediment, sometimes it’s either government or both governments and so part of my job is to come down here and try to facilitate opportunity and having a business background and having an elected official background, I served in the elected office for 14 years, the number two in the state of South Carolina, we were always looking to grow. And South Carolina is much like Belize. Our number one economy in South Carolina is tourism. And we’ve become a bigger and bigger manufacturing state here recently because we really worked hard at getting investment dollars. We’re a more rural state. We’re a state that maybe didn’t have as many resources as a lot of the other competing and so we’ve really, much like Belize, reached our hand out and said, please come here, please look and see what we got. Look at the people that we have. And Belize has incredible people that want to be involved, that want to be engaged, and want to work. And so anything we can do to make those opportunities greater, I want to be a part of.”

Ambassador Bauer comments come less than a week after the United States and Belize launched the implementation phase of the MCC Compact joint investment in education and energy.