Ministry of Investment and UNIDO Hold Policy Dialogue with Boat Builders and Seaweed Producers

The Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Investment, through the Investment Policy and Compliance Unit (IPCU), in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), held two consultations. The first was held on October 6, 2026, with the boat-building stakeholders and the second was held on October 8, 2026, with seaweed production stakeholders.

The focus of both consultations was to enable public and private stakeholders in each of the two economic activities to define their mid-term and long-term visions and identify the bottlenecks that currently stymie their industries’ growth. The overall objective is to formulate green and blue industrial policies and action plans for each of these industries.

The initiative is funded by the Government of Japan through UNIDO under the project “The Belize Industrial Strategy with Green and Blue Industrial Policies” to assist Belize’s economic development and growth through a sustainable approach. As part of the wider project, UNIDO has identified three priority value chains in the blue economy:

• Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Addition Cluster;
• Mariculture, Seaweed Farming and Processing, including Sargassum; and
• Boatbuilding.

The 38 participants in the two consultations were from the private sector, government ministries and agencies, and NGOs. Present at the closing of the policy dialogue were Mr. Lincoln Blake, Director of the Investment Policy and Compliance Unit, and Dr. Anders Isaksson and Mr. Christoph Graeser, UNIDO representatives.