'TOURISM IS OUR THIRD PILLAR'
SURINAME'S CURRENT MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, COMMUNICATIONS AND TOURISM BELIEVES THAT TOURISM IS SHAPING UP AS THE ECONOMY'S THIRD PILLAR ALONGSIDE MINING AND AGRICULTURE

After some 10 months at the helm of Suriname’s pivotal Ministry of Transport, Communications and Tourism, Guno Castelen acknowledges that he faces almost daily challenges as his government pushes the country towards sustainable development, while noting that the sectors he oversees play an important role in that goal.
In a recent interview, the tireless Minister of Transport, Communications and Tourism expands on those challenges and outlines the steps his office is taking to fulfill its mandate.

Q: Where does your ministry fit into the government’s main effort to achieve social, financial and monetary stabilization while fighting corruption?

A: The country as a whole needs to increase production and earn income to finance other activities. This will be very hard. We recognize agriculture and the mining sectors as pillars of our economy, but we also must mention tourism as the third pillar.
When we took office, we said that transport facilitates trade and industry and is vital to the living conditions of our people. If your transportation system, your logistical system, is not good, then there will be problems in other sectors, like tourism for instance. So we have a vital task in reaching the goals of this government. Improving our logistical system is one of the preconditions for sustainable and effective economic development.

Q: How is your ministry working to improve traffic problems in Suriname’s road network?

A: When we took office, many of our roads were already in the process of being paved. Right now we are committed to working with the Ministry of Public Works to have a Road Authority funded and planned in the budget. But we also feel that having roads is one thing, we will also need solutions for the transportation system to ease congestion, as there are a lot of cars and private buses.
Taxi service is also an important issue. If we want to have a tourist product, then we’ll need a quality taxi service, and we’re working on that.

Q: What about maritime transportation?

A: We are working to improve that situation as well. Together with the European Union, we will invest millions of dollars to modernize and renovate our harbor by the year 2004, and there is still debate on expansion. The harbor was built for general cargo, and we want to be able to handle containers.
We need to improve the harbor facilities not only for our own services, but also in order to become a player in the regional maritime system. We are also making improvements to our Maritime Authority, which used to be a government service but is now an independent company.

Q: Work is also being done to modernize and expand Suriname’s airport. What is the current status of that project?

A: We just finalized the airport master plan, and we are now working on some cold-storage facilities for the export of fruits and vegetables and to import some necessary products. This is being done in cooperation with the Chinese government. We expect to have our cold-storage facilities within a year.
We are also planning to improve our arrival hall at the airport to make an integrated airport terminal with an arrival and departure hall. We are now creating the preconditions for better trade and better industrial practices through the fluent, efficient and effective flow of cargo.

Q: As well as the free flow of data and information?

A: Yes. There is free market competition in the media sector and as far as telecommunications is concerned, we have committed ourselves to ITO and WTO recommendations. We will have a duopoly in Suriname until January 2003, and then the market will be further opened. Some countries in the region are taking longer, until 2008 or 2010, but the general trend is to bring the deadline closer. Some people are advising us to postpone it, but our policy is to be prepared, and we will be ready