WILLEMSTAD- From July 16 to 20, 2023, the Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Ruisandro Cijntje, along with the Minister of Traffic, Transportation, and Urban Planning, Mr. Charles Cooper led a delegation of at least 20 companies from the ICT sector from Curacao to the 38th edition of the CANTO conference and exhibition in Miami. This year, CANTO attracted over 600 participants from across the Caribbean.

Curaçao participates in this conference and exhibition every year and has hosted CANTO on several occasions. For Curaçao, this type of conference is an excellent platform for networking and business opportunities. Ministers meet and establish connections, regulators exchange experiences, and telecommunications companies showcase their new products. Starting this year, ICT companies are also present to interact and offer innovation to both the public and private sectors.

Within Curaçao's National Export Strategy 2022-2027 (NES), one of the prominent sectors to help diversify and grow our economy is precisely the ICT sector. During the welcome reception for the Curaçao delegation and guests from the Caribbean at the CANTO 2023 conference and exhibition, the ministers assured that the government is committed to making ICT one of the economic pillars of Curaçao. This commitment was overwhelmingly received by the attending entrepreneurs, who expressed their confidence in the process and pledged to work together with the government to achieve this goal.

Curaçao is well-positioned to lead in the Caribbean with Digital Hub Americas.

Curaçao's National Export Strategy is currently in the implementation phase, and for the ICT sector, the Digital Hub Americas has been developed. The Digital Hub Americas is a platform designed to centralize all ICT service providers from Curacao to collaborate and position Curaçcao as a digital hub. It has tremendous potential, and with vision and determination, we are moving forward. In the previous edition of CANTO, Minister Cooper pointed out the lack of ICT representation; particularly in regards to ICT companies and related topics in the conference and exhibition program.

This year, Curaçao presented the Digital Hub Americas, which consists of ICT companies. During the official opening of this conference and exhibition, Mrs. Teresa Wankin (Secretary-General of CANTO) mentioned Minister Cooper's promise and praised the Minister and Curaçao for their leadership.

Digital Hub Americas

Digital Hub Americas (DHA) is an initiative of Blue Nap Americas and the Bureau Telecommunicatie & Post (BTP) with support from CINEX, CIFC, Simia, and the Chamber of Commerce. As a platform, DHA facilitates interaction between companies active in the digital economy ecosystem to offer commercial and professional services to governments and the private sector in the Western Hemisphere. This interaction leads to the development of new products and services to enhance community and client services, discovery of developers and companies capable of creating these new products and services, and identification of necessary changes to improve the skills of DHA members for international market offerings. Through DHA, Curaçao will position itself as a digital hub connected locally and delivering services globally, "co-creating locally and delivering globally."

Source: Extra.cw 
For more information on DHA visit their website