Minister Rhuggenaath’s Five P’s for Economic Growth

“The satisfaction that you get from public service, the diversity of subjects, and the chance to do one meaningful thing for one person, are the factors that drove me to take this position. So, despite all the politics that come with it, this remains one of the most rewarding jobs in the world.”

TEXT NEELAM MELWANI

Curaçao’s Government is made up of nine ministries, one of which is the Ministry of Economic Development. The Ministry consists of four sectors: (1) support for businesses and entrepreneurship; (2) economic development and innovation; (3) foreign economic cooperation; and (4) policy development. With the creation of a new coalition government, Mr. Eugene Rhuggenaath (Partido Alternativa Real ), became the Minister of Economic Development, inheriting one of the most interesting and important portfolios for Curaçao’s future.

CBM had the exclusive opportunity to interview the newly appointed Minister, and learn more regarding his plans regarding his next ten months in office, leading up to the 2016 elections, and his long-term vision for Curaçao.

About Minister Rhuggenaath
Minister Rhuggenaath has a long history in both public service and the private sector. Considering his history in both fields, he has a clear understanding of what is necessary to empower the private sector in Curaçao to boost the economy, while also having a solid understanding of how the public sector works and how processes could become more efficient.

Minister Rhuggenaath worked in different departments of the Citco Group of Companies, an international independent financial service provider, in the fields of mutual fund services, custody and trading, and banking. Prior to 10 October 2010, the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and the signing of the new constitutional arrangement for Curaçao as a constituent part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Minister Rhuggenaath served as a commissioner of economic affairs, tourism and labor for the island territory of Curaçao, and as commissioner of finance in the Island Council.

“I was always prepared to take this step when asked, and I am happy to step in at this important crossroads, where creating a new momentum in a different direction is so important for the future of this island.”

The 5 P’s
With elections taking place in the second half of 2016, Minister Rhuggenaath noted that continuity is of vital importance. He is not looking to reinvent the wheel, but rather, to catalyze existing projects and processes, which he refers to as “the 5 P’s”: Plans, Projects, Ports, Pro- Investment Climate and Production.

Plans
With Plans, Minister Rhuggenaath refers to the already existing plans and the plans that are in progress within his Ministry. He specifically referred to the implementation of existing plans: the Tourism Master Plan, the Airport Master Plan, and the Long-Term Economic Strategy. The first six months of execution in any plan is crucial, and according to him, the Tourism Master Plan will play an imperative role in determining the future of the industry of tourism in Curaçao, as well as the development of parts of the island. He therefore hopes to foster collaboration between public and private partners, and hopes that his Ministry is able to bring stakeholders together to take the appropriate steps to make these plans a reality, by setting up implementation strategies and structures, and investing in the right human capital and experience.

Projects
“Our economy is not built on projects, but projects create progress and economic growth, and most importantly, they create new opportunities for the youth. We can therefore use projects to build our policies.” Minister Rhuggenaath explained how it is imperative to emphasize continuity through executing projects that are already in motion – there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

There are numerous projects to strengthen the tourism sector, and increase the impact of tourism on our economy. The Minister placed emphasis on continuing these projects, and even ensuring completion of these projects in some cases.

His predecessors started various projects than remain unfinished, and he hopes to add value to their contributions through catalyzing processes to ensure successful execution, even if completion is not possible in the ten-month frame.

Also, the Minister hopes to continue to develop key areas in Curaçao. He mentioned, for example, the continued development of an airport city, and how the area around the airport is an important part of the development of Curaçao. “There are so many communities that live on that side of the island, and in all cases, it’s the first and last thing people see when they visit the island.” This was one of his key points in the following “P” – port development.

Ports
The next important “P” according to Minister Rhuggenaath, is ports. With ports, he refers to airport development, seaport renovation (including the downtown area and megapier), and revamping Curaçao’s Freezone. “Plans for all these areas are in their advanced stages, and as I mentioned, I’d like to assist in bringing existing plans into motion. We need to take steps to realize our full potential.”

“I do not have a magic wand, nor do I need one. Curaçao has enough ideas and sufficient passion to improve the economic climate. We just need to work together, and the Government and private sector must trust one another.”

According to the Minister, while these facilities all exist, we need to work to bridge gaps, and take risks through investment, to take full advantage of the resources that we already have. Curaçao’s identity is built on our natural harbors and a large duty-free zone, but we need to inject resources into these sectors to ensure that these industries flourish. Our downtown area, Punda, is an important place to start. “I think we can all agree that Punda needs transformation… it might not look the same in ten years time, but today we can all agree that we need to do something to revamp our downtown area and bring more life to our city center.”

In addition, the Minister noted that one of the largest opportunities and challenges linked to port development will be the environment. “Curaçao can be an example for the rest of the world, if we innovate and invest with the environment in mind.” Groundbreaking ideas like seawater cooling, or the development of ecoparks along our coasts are definitely steps in the right direction.

Pro-investment Climate
“We need to find new ways to eliminate tedious steps for investors, so that when they are drawn to Curaçao, they end up actually investing here.” With this, the Minister refers to eliminating as much ‘red tape’ as possible. The Minister explained that the creation of an Investor Permit was the first step in creating a pro-investment climate, but that all it really boils down to is reinvigorating the relationship between the private and public sector to ultimately decrease the cost of doing business.

The Minister explained that revamping the economy through promoting a pro-investment climate is a process, and one where there is much to gain: “By making Curaçao a place where professionals can invest, we’ll attract new people, who will set-up shop in Curaçao. This will eventually lead to the creation of jobs. There is no ‘win-lose’ involved in changing our economic climate, we just need to think about changing the economic climate holistically and start looking at the long-term potential.” The Minister went on to mention that our Government is too small to manage private sector investments all on its own, and that cooperation is vital – where the private sector has expertise, the Government should give them the space to use it.

Production
“As we move forward creating proper conditions for business to thrive in curacao, we have to create incentives for innovation,” claimed Minister Rhuggenaath.

With production, the Minister was referring to content creation in the new economy. While Curaçao needs to focus on strengthening existing sectors, there is plenty of room to use innovation to do just that. The Minister mentioned that, “Curaçao must innovate; sustainability is our responsibility and it is an opportunity. New entrepreneurs should be posing questions like: ‘How can Curaçao continue to develop responsibly?’”

Curaçao’s focus should lie on the creation of a Blue Economy – enriching our existing sectors while making sustainable use of our biggest natural resource: water. All our sectors work with water, and according to the Minister, we should embrace the challenges we face, transform them into opportunities, and play a larger role in the global economy by doing just that.

“The time to create momentum is now – there are so many positive stories to create energy, and we have drive and perseverance that will boost us into the future.”

Collaboration as the Key to Success
Minister Rhuggenaath’s main focus, and a recurring theme during our conversation was: collaboration and forging a shared path for Curaçao. He explained that by working together, Curaçao will be able to put aside the ‘snék culture’ – this idea that our economy has limits. We must come together to work towards being a part of the Kingdom and global economy. “Once we make choices together, then we know where we want to be in the future, and what kind of Curaçao we want.” The key is coming together to answer questions like, “What kind of Curaçao do we want?” and “What are our norms and values? Cultures and traditions?”

By working together, we can stop making decisions based on fear, and consequently take more risks to enrich our society. According to Minister Rhuggenaath, there are some choices that are easier to make than others: wanting a clean environment, and a sustainable economy, for example, are questions he hopes, that everyone can align on moving forward.

Investing in Our Youth, Preparing for the Future

Another factor that consistently came up in the conversation with Minister Rhuggenaath was investing in the youth, both the youth that reside in Curaçao and creating incentives for the youth that live abroad so that they come back. Nostalgically, he recalled his days after completing university, and all the things he wanted to accomplish as a young professional. Young professionals don’t believe in limits and they have so many ideas that can be implemented. If young professionals see others doing positive things here, and the government creates opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, then they might decide to come back and play a bigger role in the development of Curaçao. According to the Minister, we also need to focus on the youth in Curaçao, providing them with opportunities to develop the right life skills and attitude, and allowing them to add value to a knowledge economy through developing entrepreneurial skills. While technical skills are important, it’s about creating the right attitude and fundamental values. “The youth is the new energy, we need to bring people in, and we need to empower the youth to take development into their hands.”

“We’re stuck in a stalemate – the same economic pillars and the same political structures. We need to create citizens of the future, who are willing to try new things to be successful. We need to take some chances and make some mistakes. In the end, I’m sure if we do this, we’ll change Curaçao for the better.”

Mistakes as Opportunities

Lastly, Minister Rhuggenaath focused on moving away from being fear-driven and moving towards being innovative. The Minister highlighted the fact that Curaçao won’t move forward unless we take risks and make choices based on opportunities. “Making mistakes has become something bad… and we always look to place the blame. We need to start asking people, how many mistakes did you make today? What I mean with that is, how many things did we try to do?”

Moving forward, it isn’t about staying in our comfort zone in Curaçao – we won’t be able to create a sustainable economy doing that. We need to take risks, and come together to make positive choices rather than placing the blame.