And in other news, the Belize Port Authority and the International Maritime Organization are hosting a three day national workshop on Maritime Transport Policy Agenda. The workshop will focus on decision making processes as it relates to port development, marina service, climate change resilience, and more.
According to the Acting Ports Commissioner, the workshop allows the conversation to be initiated with local stakeholders. She told us more today.
Darlin Gaitan, Acting Ports Commissioner
"What we hope is going to come out of it is really the appetite for a conversation about maritime policy, you know this has been on the agenda for government of Belize since all the way back to 2010 and it hasn't materialized as yet so we have seen the need for maritime and port policy for Belize and this is the time to get the stakeholders around the table to discuss some of the issues and what are the benefits to having a maritime policy, a maritime
strategy, a vision for our country Belize and to see how we can ensure that we are tied to the maritime sector when it comes to trade and when it comes to marine tourism, when it comes to marine recreation, it's a very important economy driver, the maritime transport sector and so we really want to emphasize that and then have the various heads of departments and ministries represented here today come onboard with us on this journey."
"The first thing to do would be take a status of what the maritime sector looks like for Belize and really look at the strengthening of that sector and looking at the contemporary issues that affect us and looking at the future, what the future of maritime on a global scale is looking like and how we can remain participants of that trade."
Jonathan Pace, International Maritime Organization
"We've had discussion and we will continue the discussions with the Belize Port Authority later on and I'm quite heartened and confident that the future looks bright, particularly because Belize is on the right track to integrate policies related to the maritime sector with a view to have more consolidation and synergy. Besides that, we have noticed that Belize has, within the last few years, made very good effort in building the capacities of its agencies which regulate the maritime sector, like for example the Belize Port Authority and Immarbe by taking the training opportunities that we offer to developing countries like Belize."
There were about 40 attendees present, including Immarbe, the Belize Coast Guard, CZMAI, DOE, the Ministries of the Blue Economy, Human Development and Transport, and more.
