Curaçao
Caribbean Hub with Investment Appeal
Curaçao, seat of government for the Netherlands Antilles, has developed a diversified economy based on earnings from the island’s oil refinery (which account for around 90 percent of the island’s export revenues), remittances from the Netherlands, offshore banking, other services, trade, and tourism. Curaçao also operates the largest dry dock in the region at its bustling, well-equipped port in Willemstad, which serves as a major regional transshipment center as well as a top cruise port.
Most of the companies registered with Curaçao’s Chamber of Commerce are involved in wholesale and retail trade, hospitality, financial and other business services, and transport and communications.
Curaçao’s tourism sector is seeing strong growth, particularly concerning cruise visits. Around 200 cruise ships call at the island yearly, and Curaçao attracts around 240,000 tourist visitors each year, most of them from Europe.
Curaçao imports about 90 percent of everything that is consumed on the island, and is one of the three biggest importers of American goods in the Caribbean. The island is currently building on its strategic location and well-equipped port to position itself as a trade hub linking the European Union (thanks to Curaçao’s close ties with the Netherlands) and North, Central and South America, and destinations throughout the Caribbean.
Curaçao voted in a referendum to become an autonomous territory on an equal footing with the Netherlands, a goal the island hopes to reach by 2010. This will give Curaçao’s economy a significant additional stimulus.
Encouraging foreign investment is a cornerstone of Curaçao’s economic development strategies, and local government is working hard to create an environment that is attractive, open, and friendly to foreign investment through privatizing key enterprises, upgrading efficiency, and creating investment incentives.
With its highly developed infrastructure, stable government and strategic location, Curaçao has established the foundations for continued economic growth.
Prime Minister Positive About Curaçao’s Fresh Start
Emily de Jongh-Elhage, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles
Curaçao, the largest of the five islands that make up the Netherlands Antilles, is well placed to thrive as an autonomous territory, according to Emily de Jongh-Elhage, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles. “By 2010, we hope that Curaçao will be on its own as an equal partner within the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” she says.
Following referendums, Curaçao and St. Maarten will be autonomous territories in 2010, while the other islands in the group now have Netherlands city status.
The move will free Curaçao from the debt burden that the Netherlands Antilles as a whole has incurred, 70 percent of which will be taken on by the Netherlands. “Curaçao will have a fresh start,” the Prime Minister says.
Explaining why Curaçao will achieve success, the Prime Minister points out, “Curaçao benefits from being a small Caribbean island with a strong relationship with a great European country. This is why investors are here. We have much more to offer than sea, sand, and sun. We have a natural harbor, terrific infrastructure, a dry dock to repair ships, a strong offshore financial community, a refinery, a very large container transshipment area, a free zone, and a growing tourism sector.”
Other advantages the Prime Minister cites are Curaçao’s natural and cultural attractions, its highly educated and multilingual population, its strong judicial system that is comparable with that of the Netherlands, and its location outside the hurricane belt. “Curaçao has a lot of potential,” Ms. de Jongh-Elhage concludes.
