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It's a great leap forward for safe and efficient aviation - because not only will this equipment improve the quality of air traffic control and surveillance, but it will also assist law enforcement in tracking those narco planes over Belize. Here are the highlights from this afternoon's inauguration ceremony.

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well this is big because it is going to be our primary surveillance radar. And actually I was just talking to the cabinet secretary and it was kind of a bit nostalgic because when I was the minister of natural resources and environment, Stuart Leslie was reminding me that we were fighting for the Doppler system radar that we got when I was the minister."

"We got it when 2007, right after I had resigned as the minister. But it is a sense of, you feel like a sense of accomplishment that you got something for Belize. And now here we are, I must commend former minister, Andre Perez, who was a person driving force behind us pushing to ensure that we can upgrade the system that we have."

"Tourism as I mentioned is the number one industry in the country 45% of GDP. So it is important for us to ensure that our skies are safe at all times. But then there is another second reason why it was this important for us because we know the issue of drug trafficking that Belize is used as a transit point."

"We have many aircrafts that would fly and land in different parts of the country. But now with this radar system, we will be able to track it from far, from way before they get into our airspace."

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Certainly it is a monumental feat and an accomplishment for the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Of course in partnership with our ministry and the Ministry of Defense in terms of securing this primary surveillance radar, it's a huge day for Belize as the CEO rightly mentioned. It means we have safer skies now over Belize."

Jo
"Do you have an estimate for how much was spent?"

Andre Perez
"We are talking about somewhere in vicinity of maybe $12 million with all the logistics, the radar, the movements, we had additional expenses because of the clash that we the radar with the radar of met service. So they had to do some kind of walls and firewalls and things and that costs more to do. But again, came through for us and we had to pursue really hard deadlines need to be met."

"But we as a government have to say that it has to happen. We can't be just saying it's going to be delayed. We're going to be doing it next year. Something is coming up. You know, there was a time when the radar was being allocated for another country and we were saying, no, it's for us."

"So it entailed a lot of negotiations, dialogue, being on those phones and attending meetings and a lot of Zoom meetings and why it's not happening. Some days we're frustrated that I wonder if this is going to come true."

"So all of that in a nutshell today, it's really a beautiful day and a good day for this country that we're celebrating today. Very historical."

The radar is operational now.