And returning now to the 2023 Belize Investment Summit - which continued today on San Pedro, this morning's main address was delivered by the Minister of Natural Resources Cordel Hyde.
His Ministry is a key link in the investment chain and those natural resources it's in charge of - especially land - are the main building blocks of wealth.
So what did he have to tell the investors today? Instead of a get rich quick scheme, it sounded to us like a pro poor story. Jules Vasquez reports:
Today's main address struck a somewhat different tone from yesterday's guest speaker Ivan Duque. He said government must act as an enabler; Hyde says government must be a sort of protector and moderator of capitalist excess:
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy PM, Min. Natural Resources
"There has to be that balance between economic prosperity, environmental responsibility and social progress."
"It's our special mission, our enduring fidelity in this government - and in this Ministry of Natural Resources, Petroleum and Mining that I've been task to manage by the Honourable Prime Minister, that development is not extractive in nature, but inclusive in output. That it's about equitable distribution and fairness."
And, that includes a fair rate of return - when most investors want one that is maximized:
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy PM, Min. Natural Resources
"It is our noble task to ensure that we foster the enabling environment that converts, that leverages this abundant natural capital to create a Belize where everybody wins - where the investors get a good, comfortable rate of return on their investments, while the people simultaneously get to enjoy a high quality of life in perpetuity. Because we sincerely believe that when people do better, businesses do better."
Hyde says that blights like crime are not fetters to investment - they are an invitation to do better:
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy PM, Min. Natural Resources
"Crime, poverty, unproductivity like gathering storms bode ill for that delicate flower called the investment climate and so the policy of utilizing land as a tool for greater equity is, we believe, unchallengeable. It's the reason we have embarked so aggressively to put land in the hands of the landless."
Land in the hands of investors is what many attendees would have preferred to hear - but Deputy Hyde moderated their expectations:
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy PM, Min. Natural Resources
"The less disadvantaged people we have, the more the middle class grows, the better investors will do - there will be an abundance of customers with greater and growing purchasing power."
The investment Summit ended today and you can replay any or all of it on the Government of Belize YouTube page.
