Curacao is the newest country to launch an\niGuide, or online investment guide, with the support of the United Nations\nConference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Caribbean Export Development\nAgency (Caribbean Export), the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion\nAgencies (CAIPA), the European Union and the Ministry of Economic Development\nin Curacao. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The iGuide, launched on Monday, is an\nonline repository of information on the opportunities and conditions for\ninvestment in Curacao. iGuides are a joint product of UNCTAD and the\nInternational Chamber of Commerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the launch event, President of\nCAIPA, Ms. Tessa Jacques noted, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This iGuide for Curacao, is the fourth one\nthat we have launched in the Caribbean so far. We are very pleased to be\nworking with UNCTAD and Caribbean Export for the development of eight iGuides\nfor the Caribbean region. We have so far launched the iGuides for St. Lucia,\nSt. Vincent & the Grenadines and Jamaica, during the last three months.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We look forward to launching the iGuides\nfor Barbados, St. Kitts & Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Trinidad\n& Tobago in 2020,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Ms. Jacques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister for Economic Development of\nCuracao, Ms. Giselle McWilliam highlighted the significant benefit of the\niGuide to Curacao, noting, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Curacao as a small island, needs to work hard and\ninvest a lot to be captured and discovered by potential investors. We need to\ncompete with other islands, cities, countries and continents. So, when UNCTAD\noffered us the opportunity to join the iGuide platform, we accepted immediately.\nThrough such an important international organization like UNCTAD and [CAIPA],\nwe are assured of broad coverage, to capture attention worldwide and\nregionally.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This position was supported by the\nExecutive Director of the Cura\u00c3\u00a7ao Investment & Export Promotion Agency\n(CINEX), Ramon Koffijerg, who said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many are already familiar with the\nInvestment Guide of CINEX, where all the detailed information is available,\nonline and in hard copy, explaining the investment benefits of Curacao.\nHowever, what makes the UNCTAD iGuide very special to us, is the value it\ncarries given the endorsement of the United Nations. This not only adds the\nelement of respect, trust and validity to the information we share, but more so\nexpands our reach into networks we would not have been able to tap into. on our\nown, as a small island in the Caribbean.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Investors\nare reticent to invest without adequate information,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explained Suzette Hudson,\nSnr. Advisor, Investment Promotion, Caribbean Export, adding, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is our hope\nto have iGuides developed for all the countries that we support as an Agency.\nIn this way, we would have created information \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcone stop shops\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for investors,\nimproving the business climate in the Caribbean by reducing the time and the\ncosts that investors face in trying to secure information from various sources.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n