Economic Development Commission examining trade license issue

The Belize City Council, led by Mayor Darrell Bradley, has joined the Belize Business Bureau in forming an Economic Development Commission which will take a critical look at the current issue of trade licenses. On Wednesday, we reported that members of the private sector are complaining that, in some instances, taxes have increased by as much as three hundred percent, a spike which Mayor Bradley attributed to a faulty law.  Today CitCo and the Belize Business Bureau launched ‘Open for Business’, a municipal campaign aimed at dealing with economic development issues, investment, as well as job creation, by signing a memorandum of understanding. 

Darrell Bradley, Mayor, Belize City Council

Darrell Bradley

“The main focus of this is really to reorient the City Council so that our primary objective is economic development. I attended a conference previously and economic development si really human development and municipal leaders really have to be at the forefront of the development of the space as an economic space—particularly in the area of job creation. And so what occurred several months ago is that the Belize Business Bureau approached the City Council in the person of Mister Arturo Lizarraga and Mister Hipolito Bautista and they offered a hand of friendship to the city which we welcomed with open arms. And the hand of friendship was really to open our eyes to the possibilities for Belize City. the possibility to rebrand Belize City as the commercial hub of the country of Belize and what we had talked about was a series o initiatives to really promote the economic development of the City. And so today the signing of this memorandum, is really the formalizing of a relationship which has existed for the past two or three months.

Arturo Lizarraga, Belize Business Bureau

“The ideas that came up during the discussion. For example, one of the things that we asked the Prime Minister and he complied and he is passing through cabinet, is the issue of the Mexicans using their motors idea that has nine levels of security the passport. Everybody has a voters idea; not many persons have the Mexican passports. And they took it to cabinet and what we want to do now is have that implemented; that decision was favorably met in cabinet. Minister Saldivar told me a couple days later that in fact it had passed through cabinet. That particular initiative can allow us to bring over a million Mexicans to Belize City. Why will they come? Because Belize City is a different experience, it is a different place. We always spend many monies; a lot of effort in going to Chicago, New York, L.A. and Europe, when we have a hundred and twenty million Mexicans right across the border. All we have to do is open the door; allow them to stay seven days without paying border management fees and if they stay longer, we charge them. But these people can visit the small shop in Crooked Tree, the little restaurant in Belize City, the place in P.G. or Caye Caulker and it is direct cash infusion.”

The Economic Development Commission, while it was the brainchild of the Belize Business Bureau, for whatever reason, does not include a representative of the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry which is also an important private sector organization, whose members are directly affected by the trade license increase.