Belize will soon have a national security strategy. The Belize Defense Force along with its social sector and government department counterparts began working on the 15-year plan in June of this year. This morning the second in a series of workshops was opened at the Biltmore Hotel. For the next three days, representatives from the NGO community such as the National Committee for Families and Children, and government departments such as customs will be discussing the strategy. The discussions will be anchored by lecturers from the United States Army War College. The BDF is hosting the workshop and Lieutenant Colonel Omar Pulido told us what is the biggest threat to Belize's national security.
Lt. Col. Omar Pulido, DFC
"We are having a second workshop. This is the follow-up to the first workshop for the national security strategy for Belize. In the first workshop what you had was the identification of the threats to our national security. During this second workshop we expect to have an outcome of how we could achieve the ways, the means, to overcome these threats that are a threat to our security.
One of the main ones that we have is the situation with transnational threats, organized crime. We do have national disasters that affect Belize and recently we have had a spate of banditry across the border which falls into this sort of threat scenario as cross border activities and then we have other series of threats, for example pandemics, HIV/Aids which will in effect have long term effects on our security and stability.
It is very important for Belize to formulate a national security strategy because without a secure environment, you cannot really have progress in the country for the long term. Belize is no longer just a child, it is beyond adolescent and it must continue moving forward."
A third workshop is scheduled for November. This week's workshop ends on Friday.
