Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, on the UNESCO world heritage list since 1997, with its typically Dutch colonial architecture. A town grown around the first fortresses which the Dutch built at both sides of the harbour’s entrance.

© Joyce van Genderen-Naar

Curaçao and St. Maarten will receive more autonomous statutes within the Dutch Kingdom, comparable to the status apart that Aruba has since 1986. The other three Dutch OCT-islands, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will become a ‘gemeente’ of the Netherlands:  that is a small Dutch municipality with a Dutch mayor. Why in the 21st century do islands want to become more dependent instead of less dependent? An explanation is that they are too small, the population of Bonaire being 11,537, Saba 1,491, St. Eustatius 2,699. Until now the central government of the Netherlands Antilles in Curaçao has taken the decisions for these small islands. The Dutch government wants to keep financial control and financial supervision of Curaçao. The population of Curaçao will be able to give its opinion during the referendum that will take place on 15 May 2009.

Land of the Heart

Curaçao is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles: 140.000 people and 40 nationalities, are living together on a surface area of 44 km². Due to the island’s slightly heart-shaped bays, Curaçao received the Spanish name ‘corazon’ (heart). Tourism and financial services are an important source of income for Curaçao. The economy of Curaçao performs well. Main contributors to the recent economic expansion are: tourism, the logistics industry including the airport and harbour, the oil industry, financial services sector. Special regulations enable Curaçao to offer special grants to attract investors in e-commerce and to facilitate e-commerce development, local banks offering e-services and financial offshore companies hosting international e-companies

The rice-OCT (Overseas countries and territories) route

A longstanding historic cooperation/relationship exists with Suriname. Famous was the rice-OCT route: rice from Suriname went from Curaçao to the EU-market duty-free. The commercial contact between Curaçao and Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago has become significant during the last five years. The Netherlands Antilles are an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). In May 2008 the Chamber of Commerce of Curaçao organised an EPA Fact Finding Trade Mission to Trinidad and Barbados with the participation of public and private sector stakeholders in order to identify Cariforum-EC-EPA business opportunities.

More integration with ACPs

The European Commission (EC) is in talks with all Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) countries to strengthen trade relation with ACP regions. In a ‘Green Paper’ released in June 2008 (see The Courier n°7), the EC raises the possibility of the 21 OCTs becoming members of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with respective neighbouring ACP states.

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