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South Korea is one of the world leaders in science and technology, home to flagship brands like Samsung, LG and Hyundai. And now, Belize wants to learn form them in crafting a Science, Technology & Innovation Strategy and Action Plan. The Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities wants to put this action plan into an institutional framework. They held a validation session for their work so far today at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza. But, how realistic is it? We found out more from the Minister and the CEO today:..

Colin Young, CEO - Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities of Belize
"First of all, it's the first time in the history of Belize that we will have a National Science Technology and Innovation Strategy and Action Plan. No country can advance significantly and quickly without science and technology and innovation. This is providing a framework that we can use as the government in partnership with the private sector and universities to actually undertake real and practical strategies to advance our economic development."

Hon. Joy Grant, Minister of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities of Belize
"We started thinking about this 2 years ago and we realized immediately that if we were to do this, we had to partner with a country that had done it successfully. They set up their first institute in 1966. They moved from a per capital GDP of 100 per US Dollars to 30,000 US Dollars today. So we looked at Belize and we said we need to partner with someone but we have to go through a process of consultations to determine exactly what it is that we are going to do. Because the needs are many but you just have to focus on the ones that will bring the benefits quicker than most and move with that. And what we decided was that we would use agriculture first, we feel that we can go to other value added products, we've done well as a country with agriculture. And that from that, people will see that the institute is something that will add to their own lives and make their lives better."

Colin Young
"What we can do is to learn from some of the experiences in getting the private sector and the university system along to partner with the government to then create a framework that will allow us to advance our economic development in a quick and feasible way."

The Ministry's strategic plan is to, quote, "utilize Science Technology and Innovation to act as a catalyst to reduce poverty, promote sustainable livelihoods, and improve the quality of life of the population."