Agro Processors Concerned About Investment Climate

While the unions are hailing the signing of the interim commercial agreement between the farmers and the mill at Tower Hill as a successful outcome, members of the Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group have a very different view. Today, the Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group Chairman, Dr. Henry Canton, wrote to Minister of Agriculture Jose Abelaro Mai expressing what he terms, open quote “the failure of government to protect and support private sector investments that has led to illegal and damaging events in both the north and west of the country” end quote. Canton says the sector is concerned that if the law is not enforced, this will hurt the investment climate and the larger Belizean economy. The organization’s letter to the minister stresses that businesses in Belize need a government that is supportive of private sector led growth and which ensures any future interventions does not do critical damage. The B.A.S. group reminds the minister that Belize’s Agro-Productive Sector creates employment, attracts investment and foreign currency, and provides renewable electricity and food for the nation. The letter was copied to the Prime Minister, John Briceño, a number of other ministers involved in economic and sustainable development, and the Attorney General, Magali Marin Young.