PHILIPSBURG:--- On Thursday, December 9, 2021, the 31st Congress and Trade Mission regarding “ Ten Years after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles”, continued at the Nieuwspoort in The Hague in which a delegation of the Parliament of Sint Maarten is currently participating. Today the Congress started with a presentation by Ms. Gerlien Croes, Member of the Parliament of Aruba, who discussed the strengthening of our Kingdom relations based on European values and standards. She mentioned that we are small islands with big challenges and brought forward that change requires support and that the EU offers an alternative. During this presentation, it was questioned why we do not make use of the possibilities that are already offered based on our OCT status and looking at a new status that does not have to be a UPG status.
Ms. Croes was followed by Mr. Koos Sneek, Island Council Member of Sint Eustatius who zoomed in on the small-scale reality of Sint Eustatius and current day situation and experiences of Sint Eustatius. He also looked at the intervention that started in February 2018 and different events that have taken place since.
The debt problem was the focus of a presentation by Mr. Amerigo Thode, Member of the Parliament of Curacao. He looked at the conditioning of financial support from the Kingdom, the exploration of refinancing options, and the recent advice of the IMF.
Mr. Aubrich Bakhuis spoke about the challenges for good corporate governance in public entities and foundations in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Mr. Bakhuis also looked at how we can go from good governance to excellent governance and the challenges that come with such an endeavor. He also presented a Road Map to excellent corporate governance in the semi-public sector.
Mr. Raymond Gradus, the Chairman of the Cft, discussed Ten Years of financial supervision. Mr. Gradus indicated some points that can help in improving effectiveness, such as introducing financial management as a norm and an enforceable information obligation for government entities. He concluded that financial management and budget management were not in order before the Corona crisis, that the crisis has further accentuated the underlying issues, that stringent fiscal policies must go hand in hand with economic reforms, and that for effective supervision the current toolbox could be expanded.
Prof. Mr. G. Oostindie gave a presentation titled: Kingdom Relations; what does history teach us about limitations, challenges, and opportunities. Prof. Oostindie mentioned opportunities based on realism, integrity, involvement, and permanent learning ability. Mr. Ewout Irrgang, Member of the General Audit Chamber of the Netherlands, questioned in his presentation if The Netherlands, as the largest country within the Kingdom, takes sufficient account of the small scale of the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom.
The last presentation was a duo-presentation by Ms. Jorien Wuite, Member of the Second Chamber of the Netherlands, and Ms. Daphina Misiedjan which zoomed in on the climate treaties and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This presentation looked at the need for having the climate treaties also count for the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom and how best to deal with this.
The Congress ended with a panel discussion on the topic of climate change within the Kingdom in which Member of Parliament Claudius A. Buncamper, along with Members of Parliament of Aruba, Curacao, and the Netherlands, and academics participated. During this debate, the main question was if climate change should become a Kingdom affair.
