Public Input Needed for Trade Policy

Terrence Simfukwe

The public is invited to attend these important meetings and participate in the process through which government is soliciting collective inputs that would inform the National Trade Policy.

Terrence Simfukwe, Trade Advisor, Commonwealth Secretariat

“We are doing this process to garner support so that we could own this process and own this policy as Belizeans.  While I am here as an advisor to provide technical expertise and lead the process and coordinate the process, our message has been that we want ownership from the highest national government, as well as the technical people and the private sector, even the citizens themselves and that is why the approach that we have taken is to go around the consultative approach, because we didn’t want to sit in a corner and draft something and then say here is the policy for Belize.  So we studied a list to be as all-encompassing as possible.  The views that are here are very much the same views that are coming from Belizean private sector, Belizean technocrats and the citizens themselves because we have held public forums everywhere and that’s why we believe that this approach is better than the corner approach where we would sit and bring something.”