Prime Minister of Curaçao

PRIME MINISTER OF CURAÇAO lar support behind them? Rhuggenaath: “That is a very good ques- tion and it’s a challenge that we are still wrestling with, but it’s very important.And that goes back to my first answer–I want Curaçao to start believing in Curaçao, again. So, it’s moving from a perception of stagnant or minimal growth to having confidence in our future and the role that government can play,moving towards believing in what we have. “Curaçao has a lot of potential in different sectors but, somehow,we haven’t been able to convert these into opportunities.Tradition- al communication that may have worked ten years ago–for example holding press con- ferences, press releases,media appearances –doesn’t work anymore.You need to engage with the community.You have to be out there, talking to stakeholders, being in neigh- borhoods, communicating at all levels, and also communicating more frequently,which, of course, can be a challenge for a politician, considering how social media is dominating the conversation spectrum. So,we have been doing a lot of Facebook and using social me- dia, but still there’s a lot more that we need to do.And that’s why we have been ramping up both the internal and external commu- nication of everything that the government is doing, because I think that the people are not sufficiently informed of what we’re doing to facilitate development and trying to move the country forward. “I can give you one concrete example. I’m chairing an inter-ministerial taskforce, con- sisting of myself, the Minister of Economic Develop- ment, the Minister of Urban Planning, and the Minis- ter of Finance, in order to move projects that have been supported by private sector investors in areas like logistics, tourism development, housing, and agriculture and fisheries (because we want to move more towards improving food security through our own cultivation). But there is not a lot being com- municated to the community about howwe are moving these projects forward. So, that is something we are going to do more of in the latter half of this year. It’s important, because I want to show not only the possibilities, but showwhat’s happening in order to create a ripple effect in the communi- ty–employers, employees, the unemployed, those who are thinking of starting their own business–to believe in our potential, and believe in their own potential, so that we can move to producing more and generating our own income. Because, at the end of the day, what we want is for all the people of Curaçao to have a decent living on our island. That is the mission, but it takes all of us to move together toward that destination.” BVM: It seems that people usually gets enthu- siastic only when they actually see the cranes going up and the trucks moving and the jobs being offered. Rhuggenaath: “That is entirely true and that’s why I go back to the investment program that was recently approved and consists of public- private projects that are in the pipeline and that we can actually implement this year and next year, and that includes housing in new neighbor- hoods. But, we need to show people working, the cranes, the tractors, the cement being poured, because this is best way to not only show what is possible, but to see what is happening. “For example, we have the new mega-pier. Two years ago, we were talking about it.We signed the financial agreements; we signed the contractor; but that wasn’t enough, until it opened, until they saw the first cruise ship that moored there. In