Business CW 2025 - 11 | Page 5

At the second Curaçao Chamber Business Mixer 2025, Chairman Raoul Behr called for a shared, future-oriented direction for the island. Despite economic growth, he noted that Curaçao still lacks

the clarity needed to make this progress sustainable and inclusive.

Behr stressed that growth matters only when it improves people’s lives. The Chamber’s strategic direction, built around eight core dossiers—from entrepreneurship and education to social security

and innovation—aims to strengthen the island’s resilience.

He highlighted the need for sharper choices as sectors like tourism and real estate expand.

Opportunities don’t create the future. Choices do.” Strategic investment, he added, is essential to

retain talent and rebuild confidence.

Using Curaçao’s recent World Cup qualification, Behr said: “The Blue Wave shows what is possible when an entire island moves in the same direction. We now need that same energy for our economy.”

He pointed to challenges such as low productivity and rising care and pension costs, emphasizing that sustainable growth requires improvements in productivity and social security. Behr concluded that investing in people—skills, character, and modern education—is Curaçao’s greatest innovation. “Let us not allow growth to happen to us, but work to shape it ourselves. It is time to determine the

direction together.”

Curaçao CHAMBER Business MIXER

From opportunities to choices, and from choices to execution: Chamber of Commerce calls for a clear direction for Curaçao