Belize’s Private Sector and Agricultural Producers Get More CSME-Aware

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat presses ahead with its public education drive to ensure that vital sectors know about the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and its significant benefits. On Wednesday, November 23, a one-day CSME sensitization workshop will be hosted in San Ignacio, Belize. Approximately 40 participants from private sector entities and rural organizations will convene at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel to share information and experiences regarding the CSME. The workshop is facilitated under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and Economic Integration Programme (EIP).

Resource persons from the CARICOM Secretariat will present on topics such as the current status of the CSME; the CSME as a platform for private sector growth and development; and facilitating agricultural trade and investment in the CSME. Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade will also deliver a presentation on the CSME at the national level. The presentations will be followed by dialogue sessions in which participants can share their experiences and clarify issues surrounding the CSME. The Secretariat anticipates that at the end of the workshop, participants should have a better understanding of the benefits being a part of the CSME and how their respective sectors can take full advantage of it.

The final workshop in this series takes place in Jamaica on November 30th in the rural parish of Manchester. Previously, the Secretariat has hosted similar private sector and rural communities CSME workshops in Barbados, Guyana, St. Vincent and Grenadines and Suriname. This series is part of a wider public education programme aimed at explaining the CSME and its advantages to CARICOM nationals.