And when the other side of the UDP held their press conference yesterday, they not only touched on the NPC meeting but also on national issues - including Belize's commitment to free movement of CARICOM members. Patrick Faber rang alarm bells, explaining that this move was not right for Belize and would see an influx of laborers that will likely be more skilled and qualified than local ones.
But today the Minister of Foreign Affairs scoffed at that notion and explained how it will actually work.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Yeah, unfortunately, one thing consistent about UDP is that they're always on the wrong side of history."
"That is absolutely misguided, misinformed. What Belize has done, along with Barbados, Saint Vincent and Dominica is, enter into a transition period. So over a three year period, starting October of this year, Belize will begin the process of implementing, the laws and regulations which govern free movement. This is something that both governments, both PUP and UDP governments have over the years advanced and promoted and advocated for. This was approved, our accession to this free movement, was approved by cabinet several years ago. So we're following up on that. There's no I mean, on its based, I want to make this very clear. First of all, it's limited to those for four countries because it's based on reciprocity. And it has to do with skilled labor. It has to do with skilled labor and free movement of people. We already have a regime in place called CSME, where people can apply for CSME skills certificates. So there's already a structure and regime in place. So that's all we're doing. We're advancing this and we are a proud member of Caricom, we are a proud members of Caricom, our Brothers and Sisters in Caricom deserve the opportunity, as do Belizeans, to travel to these different countries, these countries that have started out, and follow the in terms of the internal domestic laws of those countries. You have an opportunity to work in those countries and live in those countries. There's nothing wrong with that, I remember more than 20 plus years ago, 25 years ago, people were, when we introduced, you know, skilled professionals in terms of lawyers allowing lawyers to come to people, oh Belize will get overrun with Caribbean lawyers. That has not happened in 25 years on average. You know, we have, around 200 people who come to Belize from the Caribbean on average every year applying for skilled certificates, who wants to work on them on a temporary basis. So there's nothing to be afraid of. Belize should be proud of our commitment to Caricom. And, you know, so it's a very, very good initiative for Belize. And as I said, it will be implemented over a transition period of three years."
