Source: Politics<\/p>\n
While Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s players were training for their match against in Ecuador, government officials from the World Cup\u2019s smallest-ever competitor<\/a> hosted a two-day conference in Kansas City to promote it as a destination for American investment.<\/p>\n The Caribbean island of around 158,000 people located just north of Venezuela is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is not quite a country, but since the sporting world is treating it like one this month, the government is hoping foreign investors will give it a fresh look.<\/p>\n \u201cCura\u00e7ao is now on an international stage, while we never thought we would be there … we want more people to know about Cura\u00e7ao and invest,\u201d Roderick Middelhof, Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s minister of economic development, told POLITICO.<\/p>\n After the team qualified for a World Cup spot last November, Cura\u00e7ao’s government quickly began discussing how the tournament could showcase the island’s economic potential.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we knew that we would be going to the World Cup, the government sat together and said, ‘okay, we need to take advantage of this moment,’\u201d Middelhof said. \u201cIt was actually together with other ministers that we thought, ‘okay, let\u2019s organize meetings and show people what Cura\u00e7ao is now, and what Cura\u00e7ao will be in a few years with expansion and investment.’\u201d<\/p>\n