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It was the first of its kind in this government and we were there for most of the four hour event - here's how it went:

Jules Vasquez Reporting

Themed "Turning the Corner," the business forum was well-attended. The jungle pavilion - which is a large conference hall - was full.

Captains of commerce and industry, Citrus, banana, and sugar, commercial bankers, and micro creditors, merchants, business leaders, parliamentarians, and senior public officers all spoke to a Head table including PM as Minister of Finance, the comptroller of customs, the Commissioner of sales tax, the governor of the central bank, the financial secretary .

The Forum was to cover six major complaints from the business sector, customs and tax evasion by some businesses, the impact of crime on business, onerous lending rates at the bank, poor infrastructure, the unavailability of timely and reliable statistics from government, and an excessively bureaucratic concession regime.

Specific complaints, but all based around more or less the same question: Can The Barrow Administration create an enabling business climate?

Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"At a more general level, there was a clear indication of the need for improvement in the perception of the business climate in Belize."

And PM Barrow made it clear, that Government is now asking the business sector to lead the way:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"The need for Government to enter into a more comprehensive ongoing dialogue with, you, the private sector, and for the establishment of a framework to address particular issues as they arise. If Government is to do more, the private sector will of course have to hold hands with us. Hopefully, today is the start of a new joint enterprise."

And to show Government's willingness to do something, Barrow proved he wasn't afraid to tussle with the elephant in the room, the Commercial Banks and their ruthless rate spreads:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Ever since it took office this Administration, and you've heard me speak about this over and over, we have been concerned about the high levels of interest rates in the banking system. Now I understand only too well the complexities of the situation where none of our commercial banks is trully locally owned. And while I specifically refrain from any suggestion that the banks in Belize operate in the fashion of a cartel, I will most assuredly say that more competition is needed. One step in that direction would be to turn the DFC into a full-scale national commercial bank, and Government will shortly be appointing a committee to examine just that possibility. The time may also have come to legislate a cap on interest rate spreads."

Those are major developments for the banking sector and while it shows some resolve on Government's part, to satisfy this crowd - Government will also have to show that it is ready to do business:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"You will help us to identify the new spaces and opportunities in relation to which Government and Public Officers can become more accommodative, more facilitative, more aggressively empowering of business and enterprise. So a clarion call needs to go out now. Attitudes in the public sector must be changed; initiatives, all across the board, must be grasped; and openings must be created. Government must be ready to put in place the practical and psychological arrangements not just to buttress but to muscularize the private sector."

That's just what this power-packed room wanted to hear, and the PM's address was followed by an extended - two and a half hour question and answer session that went right through lunch - where things didn't quite follow any agenda - and mostly complaints were ventilated.

If it seemed a little un-focused the PM says it's just part of the start-up process:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"We had to do something to try to get the private sector resuscitated, or to find ways to address the problems that the private sector was experiencing as a consequence in the fall-off in demand due to the global situation. It's overdue; I think that I have to concede that we ought to have done it before now, but I'm happy that we've finally done it. I think that the response was even better than I had expected."

Dr. Carla Barnett - Moderator
"There is a lot of positive energy here today, as you see."

Reporter
"There is a interesting proposal of integrated participation between the private and public sectors. Can you explain?"

Dr. Carla Barnett
"It's a little bit unusual for Belize, isn't it? But it's really important for the public and private sectors to work together in a collaborative way. And I think that's what you saw today, that Government and public sector agencies, together with the private sector are really committing to working together."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, how would you answer to the criticism that this event was too scatter-shot, and that in fact, it was just like the equivalent of a real-time call-in show for the 1%? We know that the problems in this economy are not - while they are feeling it - the real crunch is being felt by the shrinking or vanishing middle-class."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"No man, I am saying that Government, for its part, is doing a great deal, and will continue to do a great deal. In fact, we'll do even more than it has done in the past to try to address the problems of poor people and fixed income people - the middle class that are p-a-y-e. But the dynamism that we expect from the business sector, which is a critical cog in the whole economic apparatus, has without a doubt been affected by domestic and global circumstances. So, this is an effort - a little bit belated - to address that particular aspect of the overall equation."

And as an indication of Government's resolve, a number of individual committees were set up today. Most important among those was the one to examine the transitioning of the DFC into a national bank. Interestingly, the Prime Minister's only insistence was that Bill Lindo, ousted from the PUP executive on the same day, could be named to that committee as he has been a longtime proponent of that effort.