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Belize: United States
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Belize is a parliamentary democracy with a constitution enacted in 1981 upon independence from the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister, a cabinet of ministers, and a legislative assembly govern the country. The Governor General represented Queen Elizabeth II in the largely ceremonial role of head of state. Prime Minister Said Musa's People's United Party (PUP) held 26 of the 29 seats in the House of Representatives following generally free and fair elections in 1998. The judiciary was generally independent.
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Belize is an independent country. Belize became a British Crown Colony in 1862, and achieved complete self-rule in 1981. Belize is a member of the British Commonwealth, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the IMF, the Organization of American States, the Association of Caribbean States, and the World Bank. Belize has applied for entry to NAFTA, and is presently constructing a large Free Trade Zone facility on its northern border with Mexico.
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Belize lies along the Caribbean coast of Central America. The first British settlement came in 1638, and the United Kingdom relinquished its last colony on the mainland of the Americas in 1981. English is the official language, but Spanish is widely spoken. Peace and plentiful land attract refugees from troubled neighboring countries. Tourists flock to see Maya ruins like Altun Ha; wildlife such as jaguars, howler monkeys, and toucans; and the Western Hemisphere's longest coral reef.
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In order to strengthen its potential for economic and political development, Belize has sought to build closer ties with the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America to complement its historical ties to the English-speaking Caribbean states. For instance, Belize has joined the other Central American countries in signing the Conjunta Centroamerica-USA (CONCAUSA) agreement on regional sustainable development, and on January 1, 2007 assumed the presidency of SICA (Central American Integration System) for a 6-month period. Belize is a member of CARICOM, which was founded in 1973. It became a member of the OAS in 1990.
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Roughly eighty percent of Belize's exports are traded under preferential agreements with industrialized countries.7 The country's main trading partners are the United States and the European Union. Many analysts fear that the application of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will eventually undermine Belize's trade relationship with the US in favor of hemispheric free trade, but this has so far not been a major threat.8 Along with its neighbors, Belize has requested that preferential trade policies under NAFTA be expanded to include the Caribbean region. Caribbean nations are required to enter into any such agreement as a bloc, so several countries in the region have been liberalizing regional trade policies for the past year.9 Belize ... takes advantage of preferential trade rights stemming from its membership in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and other regional trade organizations.
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Belize has confidentiality and secrecy laws which are strictly enforced by its courts. However, Belize does have agreements for the sharing of information with other nations including the United States which relates to tax evasion.
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