And one connection the trade mission should make is with the Ministry of New Growth Industries. Now, true enough, that ministry only exists notionally - it has no office, and no staff - but all the files are safely stored inside the mind of Minister Kareem Musa.
Today he was at the Ostrich farm and restaurant. That's a promising, blooming new industry for Belize, and if it comes to fruition, it would be the first born out of his Ministry of New Growth Industries.
After three years in office, the ministry has attempted to start up new ones, but have mostly been unsuccessful. Today we asked the minister if we can expect anything else from that ministry.
Kareem Musa, Minister of New Growth Industries
"What we have to understand that when it comes to new industries is that not all industries are going to be as economically explosive as say, the cannabis industry. We have to understand that there is a lot of niche markets that we can get into like ostrich, like seaweed, like bamboo and cohune. These are all industries that we're seeing on the horizon that are going to require a lot of private sector investment and certainly I can see where in the upcoming budget, the Ministry of New Growth Industries is going to be financed because we have not gotten a budget in three years but we can see conceptually there are so many Belizeans with amazing ideas that we want to help as government to see how we can as public sector ensure that these private sector investments thrive."
Courtney Menzies:
"But are you wait for the public to come to you or will you go out and seek those people who have these great ideas?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of New Growth Industries
"No no, we have been. Our ministry, like I said, we have been following like I said, the seaweed down south with the women of Placencia, the cohune industry with Mr Rudy Castillo, bamboo, I know Henry Canton has a group for bamboo that's coming in so all of these people we have been in constant negotiations, not just to set up the framework for the new industries but to do as best as we can as government to facilitate the introduction of these new industries."
Courtney Menzies:
"And will we ever see the marijuana industry?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of New Growth Industries
"I am pretty certain of that, that's unavoidable. All across the world, in the US, in Canada, they're seeing the benefits of it. I think Belize stood a very good chance of being the trailblazers of not just Central America but the Caribbean, unfortunately, we have fallen behind because other Caribbean countries are now moving forward with their industries but we respect the views of the churches and in particular the Evangelical churches and so we are confident that whenever we do hold a referendum that we will see that it only makes sense. As much as it is a taboo when we do discuss cannabis, at the end of the day you cannot turn a blind eye that it is consumed all across Belize, all across the world, and unfortunately for our country has resulted in a lot of murders, the illegal trade of it and so it only makes sense, not just C-E-N-T-S but also S-E-N-S-E, it makes a lot of sense for us to have a legal industry for Belize and I see it happening."
