It's been one of the hottest political issues in the past 6 weeks, but tonight we can report that the Carnival deal has been settled.
Carnival's Vice-President for strategic planning Giora Israel flew into Belize today for a 3:00 pm meeting with the Prime Minister at his Belmopan office. The meeting was led by PM Musa and Israel, and in attendance were Minister of Tourism Hon. Mark Espat, Port of Belize CEO Luke Espat, BTB Chairperson Therese Rath and Tourism CEO Tracy Panton. The purpose of the meeting was to sign and finalize a renegotiated agreement which inserts 12 clarifying clauses into the existing 27 page contract first signed in April. That meeting concluded just before 5:00 and Tourism Minister Mark Espat this evening would only confirm that the renegotiated contract has been signed.
The specifics of those renegotiated terms are not known at this point, but they include more stringent guidelines for regulation of Carnival's operations, and a clause stating that Carnival must hire Belizean entities, agencies and nationals.
On the face of it, it's a major victory for Tourism Minister Hon. Mark Espat who challenged a binding agreement signed by the Prime Minister to have controversial clauses removed. The question now is whether Espat can call down the dogs, meaning the highly stoked overnight tourism stakeholders, who filed a judicial challenge of the original contract this week.