Philipsburg:--- The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA), the largest private business representative on the island, met with a delegation of the Soualiga Social Movement (SSM), led by its president and co-founder Alston Lourens, treasurer and co-founder Sjaoel Richardson, board member Paul Bell, and Paul Henriquez, to discuss common grounds.
The SSM are firm believers of the concept "teach a man how to fish", the foundation focuses on being involved in the planning and facilitation of social projects, allowing the participants in the community to be directly involved with the execution of the planned projects which creates a sense ownership in the community of the activity and that usually guarantees it's success. The project at the forefront of this is the Social Summit "Get Together to Work Together". A planned conference for a group of active NGO's and other types of organizations, to come together at the table to work together on common goals and issues. This is something that the SSM and the SHTA have agreed to work together on.
Both association have agreed to jointly approach areas of common interest such as educating the public on issues, electoral reform, good governance, transparency, fiscal discipline, employment, improving economic activities on the island, increasing diversification, and especially the need for all, including NGO's, to work together toward these common goals among others.
People need to understand that they themselves are part of the governing procedure, that's how a democracy works. They contribute to the government financially (through taxes) and need to have more interest in how that contribution is being used. To gain an understanding of what procedures exists and why? Too many stand on the side lines complaining about government and the way things are, without understanding the real issues at hand, this is not ever going solve our problems. There are so many issues on such a small island, in order to make a change more people need to understand and exercise their rights by speaking up and actively participating in their communities.
The SHTA is dedicated to bringing quality to all aspects of life on St. Maarten by promoting sustainable economic development for its members in cooperation with the social partners and the creation of a fair marketplace. For more information please contact our offices at 542-0108 or visit our website at www.shta.com.
