Business View Caribbean | August 2022

41 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 8 MINI STRY OF ECONOMI C DEVELOPMENT CURACAO to export our expertise on.” BVC: Do you have skills training programs available for workforce development? Minister Cijntje: “In my Ministry, we organize a lot of training programs, moving forward I am trying to develop a shared service – it’s a type of incubator but it’s mainly focused on how to help the MSMEs (micro, small, and medium sized enterprises) to perform well. That’s something I am introducing to help our business entrepreneurs to stay afloat during these difficult times. So yes, we have programs. Yes, we constantly train and educate our entrepreneurs and our people on the island to be more business minded and to perform better in their companies “When it comes to technology and innovation, our education lab is one of the best in the region. So we have very well prepared youth. I also have to say that, mainly due to the fact that there is a lack of opportunity here, many of them have travelled to Holland to seek other opportunities there. We are part of the Dutch Kingdom, so it is easy for us to move to Holland to pursue work and education. But I think if we can encourage people to invest in Curacao, then we can attract them to come back to the island.” BVC: Is your construction and housing sector doing well? Minister Cijntje: “Definitely, our construction sector is booming. There are many hotels and high-end apartments being built along the coast, so it is very obvious that there is a lot of construction going on here on the island. I think that availability for housing is going up right