Belize City Council Acknowledges Contributions of Bangladeshi Community

While the Bangladeshi community is small in Belize, they contribute significantly to the commercial private sector of downtown Belize City. They’ve been working closing with the City Council of Belize and Mayor Darrell Bradley, who also took part in the ceremonies this morning.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

“We would want as a city to congratulate Bangladesh as a nation. I remarked in my presentation that when I went to school, I read about the struggles of the Bangladeshi people for independence, the atrocities that were carried out during the struggle for independence and that was recorded as one of the saddest moments in modern history. So it was a significant struggle that truly underscores the persistence and endurance and the strength of the Bangladeshi people, which needs to be recognized. The second thing is acknowledging their contribution as a part of the diversity of the Belize City community. I have been very fortunate to have been invited to many of these flag raising ceremonies and it is really an honor and a privilege for me as a representative of this city to show our support to people who have traveled a far to come and be a part of our Belizean nation and to help to contribute to that. And the third is really as a formal gesture of support to really underscore our strength as a diversified community that Belize is a melting pot. We have been a haven for many communities who had sought freedom and peace and any person who wants to contribute to the development of our nation is welcomed. And so it is an honor for me as mayor to be here, to be invited, to assist in the raising of the flag and really to celebrate with them a momentous occasion.”

Duane Moody

“We note that many of them are actually part of the business community with whom you work with on a regular basis. Talk to us to that; them adding to the commercial sector in Belize City.”

Darrell Bradley

Darrell Bradley

“I think we are very fortunate because one of the things I’ve always laud about Belize is that we don’t have a majority group; there is no population in recent memory that has gone over fifty percent. And that’s really a hallmark of Belize. Very few, if any, nations have that as a testimony. In the United States of course Caucasians make up about eighty percent of the population; that’s true for most countries of the world that you have a significant dominant group. In Belize, our strength really is our diversity and here we have a group in terms of the Bangladeshi in Belize who contribute as you rightly say to the commercial class in Belize. They are a fixture in downtown Belize City. The president is somebody who I pass everyday walking to court or city hall; he’s always hailed me and we’ve had one or two conversations and so forth. So they are a fixture in terms of Belize City life and in terms of downtown Belize City and it is really such an honor for us to recognize and appreciate that the Bangladeshi community has contributed significantly—through in few numbers—to the advancement of Belize City and in downtown Belize City.”