by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 18, 2025
Representatives of Belize and Trinidad & Tobago met this week in Belize as part of a three-day trade mission with the objective of strengthening economic ties between the two countries and unlocking new opportunities for regional commerce.
On Wednesday, June 18, representatives from the two nations signed a cooperative agreement focused on deepening collaboration, easing trade barriers, and expanding market access within the Caribbean.
“It is strategic. It is a deliberate effort to institutionalize, collaborate, and create a framework through which our private sectors can grow together,” said Somju Chase-Pierre, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We are proud to walk alongside the Belize Chamber, who, like our own, have served the business community for over a century,” she added.
“This mission is a testament to what we can achieve when we prioritize collaboration,” said Hon. Christopher Coye, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance. “This means not only that we explore and establish new markets between ourselves, but also actively seek to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to entry, and fully leverage preferential trade agreements within CARICOM. Through initiatives like this mission, we look forward to strengthening the ties amongst our people, whether through cultural exchanges, education partnerships, or even joint ventures, with the result that we effectively empower our private sectors to achieve success. Belize, the whole of Belize, not only Belize City, is open for business,” Hon. Coye further stated.
Samantha Budna Banner, Director of the Belize Bureau of Standards (BBS), said that the trade mission is key to strengthening the commercial and cultural ties between nations.
“This trade mission presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen the commercial and cultural ties between our two Chambers of Commerce … the goal is not for our products and services to stop at our national borders, and it is where the Regional Quality Infrastructure coordinated through the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standard and Quality (ROSQ) becomes indispensable. ROSQ plays a central role in harmonizing standards across the region, building institutional capacity, and fostering mutual recognition of conformity assessment systems in [each of our] member states, and through this shared platform, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago benefit from harmonized policy systems to benefit from trade opportunities. This harmonization is designed to make our products regionally accepted, but globally competitive,” she said.
The mission continues on Thursday, June 19, with meetings, networking, and trade opportunities on the agenda, and concludes on Friday.