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While Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s players were training for their match against in Ecuador, government officials from the World Cup\u2019s smallest-ever competitor<\/a> hosted a two-day conference in Kansas City to promote it as a destination for American investment.<\/p>\n

The Caribbean island of around 158,000 people located just north of Venezuela is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is not quite a country, but since the sporting world is treating it like one this month, the government is hoping foreign investors will give it a fresh look.<\/p>\n

\u201cCura\u00e7ao is now on an international stage, while we never thought we would be there … we want more people to know about Cura\u00e7ao and invest,\u201d Roderick Middelhof, Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s minister of economic development, told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

After the team qualified for a World Cup spot last November, Cura\u00e7ao’s government quickly began discussing how the tournament could showcase the island’s economic potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we knew that we would be going to the World Cup, the government sat together and said, ‘okay, we need to take advantage of this moment,’\u201d Middelhof said. \u201cIt was actually together with other ministers that we thought, ‘okay, let\u2019s organize meetings and show people what Cura\u00e7ao is now, and what Cura\u00e7ao will be in a few years with expansion and investment.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kansas City conference is one of several in World Cup cities organized by the economic-development ministry in parnership with CINEX<\/a>, an agency that seeks to promote investment opportunities in Cura\u00e7ao.<\/p>\n

The events target companies interested in sectors ranging from energy and logistics to hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We invite] all companies that are interested in our oil sector and also other companies that are interested in international investment, so hotel owners, energy companies. For example, we had TOTAL; Epson was also there at one of the meetings,\u201d Middelhof said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the events we do a presentation about what Cura\u00e7ao is and what Cura\u00e7ao has to offer … to put Cura\u00e7ao in the spotlight … around the World Cup,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Diversifying the economy beyond tourism is a key objective for the government, according to Middelhof. While tourism remains one of the island’s main economic pillars, he sees significant potential in Cura\u00e7ao’s deep-water harbor, which could serve as a storage and logistics hub for international cargo, including oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur port is now really expanding, so the port of Cura\u00e7ao is ready to provide storage space for other countries; it’s not just about tourism,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cCura\u00e7ao now has the chance to not only rely on tourism, we can strive for more … and show Cura\u00e7ao is open for various businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Middelhof does acknowledge that the World Cup presents an opportunity to boost and further \u201cstabilize\u201d his country\u2019s tourism sector, particularly as authorities pursue a target of 1 million stay-over visitors annually. Most tourists currently come from the Netherlands, reflecting the countries’ historical ties. However, Cura\u00e7ao is increasingly looking to broaden its visitor base.<\/p>\n

The island is already seeing increased international interest following its World Cup qualification, said Middelhof, pointing to a rise in Google searches and social media engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCura\u00e7ao is, for a little while, on everyone’s mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s players were training for their match against in Ecuador, government officials from the World Cup\u2019s smallest-ever competitor hosted a two-day conference in Kansas City to promote it as a destination for American investment. The Caribbean island of around 158,000 people located just north of Venezuela is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}