Director Lincoln Blake – Investment Policy and Compliance Unit
By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 24, 2025
“Bridging Markets, Building Resilience” will be the theme of Belize’s 3rd Investment Summit, where the Belize Trade and Investment Agency (BELTRAIDE) will encourage foreign investors and local entrepreneurs to invest in Belize.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Finance, Investment and Economic Transformation invite policymakers from the public and private sector in CARICOM, Central America and the entire hemisphere to embrace the strategic opportunities which Belize offers as a gateway to prosperity through regionalization. On Wednesday morning, July 23, at the Best Western Biltmore Plaza Hotel, the Government of Belize Press Office briefed the media on how and where they will be able to report on the event, which will be held at the Grand & Sunset Caribe Resort in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, on September 3-5
Press Office do’s and don’ts
Belize’s blue, green and orange economies offer many investment opportunities for sustainable and enriching projects, which the Summit will promote, Director of the Investment Policy & Compliance Unit, Lincoln Blake explained. BELTRAIDE hopes to foster investment partnerships and strategic alliances between the Belizean diaspora, international investors and financial institutions and local enterprises.
Foreign investors have experienced many successes in Belize, which the summit will highlight, to encourage new guests to do likewise. The summit will also serve as a forum to discuss new ideas for policy reform to make it easier to do business in Belize and grow the economy. The summit will also promote new policies and programmes which will support investment by the Belizean diaspora.
The Investment Ministry has invited two forward thinkers as guest speakers to outline the way forward for interested investors: Ernesto Stein, PhD, of the Monterrey Institute of Technology will make a presentation on, “Navigating the New Global Trade Era – Belize’s Strategic Role in Regionalization”, while Sandals Resorts International executive chairman Adam Stewart will discuss, “The Future of Luxury Tourism in the Caribbean: Shaping the Region’s Luxury Tourism Landscape”.
Belize already offers investors fiscal incentives that include exemptions from certain taxes and from duties on up to $1 million of equipment and materials that are imported to start a new business, and the Government may be willing to forego even more import duties, in instances where the project offers greater returns in job creation and generation of foreign exchange, Blake explained. Such proposals would have to go to Cabinet for approval.
There will be many simultaneous panel discussions on different topics such as, how Belizean artists can serve as cultural ambassadors who take the Belizean culture to a global audience and market; the opportunities in agro-processing for the farm sector; the manufacture of handbags and handicrafts; how Belize’s program of digitalization and e-governance has made it easier to start up a new business; and the potential of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) to grow and provide more services to international clients.
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