PHILIPSBURG:--- The Parliament of Sint Maarten is now represented in the Standing Committee of Eurolat (European Union and the Parliament of Latin America - Parlatino), namely the Committee for Sustainable Development, the Environment, Energy Policy, Research, Innovation and Technology.
President of Parliament Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson, is currently in Panama attending the Directors meeting of Parlatino that started on Monday, and attended by the Vice Presidents of Parlatino where the parliamentary year plan of activities is compiled for the year (2014-2015).
President Richardson was invited to attend meetings of Eurolat, a meeting of representatives of parliaments from the European Union and Parlatino, which started on Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
A written request for the Parlatino floor sent on March 1, 2015, was given to Senator Angel Rodriquez, President of the Venezuelan Parliament, and Vice-President for Venezuela in Parlatino, to address the situation between Venezuela and the United States.
After a lengthy deliberation on the matter, an agreement on the resolution was sought from the member countries to, "reject the measures adopted by the government of United States, as being in flagrant contravention to the basic principles of international rights" etc.
The Dutch Caribbean countries with representatives at Parlatino namely, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten, abstained from voting based on not having the legal authority to solely decide on matters of foreign affairs. Foreign Affairs is a responsibility of the Netherlands.
On Monday, during the board of directors meeting, the following agenda points were handled besides the preliminary activities and reports:
- Approval of the convention of Cooperation between the Andine Parlament and Parlatino.
- Approval the Resolutions and Projects of Generic laws for adoption in the following plenary session of Parlatino,
- Calendar of meetings of the permanent committees to take place during the months of April-December of 2015,
- Approval of events that Parlatino has been invited to, or obliged to attend based on own interest and rights,
- Financial report on the state of quota payments by the member countries. (Sint Maarten is up to date with its annual payment)
- Choosing of topics for adoption in the following plenary sessions and introductory debates and suggestions of additional topics,
- Approval of the entire agenda for the upcoming plenary sessions.
- Turkey was accepted as an observer member in Parlatino
All documents related to the above meeting are privy to the public of St. Maarten through the auspices of the Secretariat of Parliament.
