Wescot Williams described the meeting as informative while she confirmed that there are going to be follow up meetings in the future. The island leader said members of the Central Committee met with the Territorial Council where they address at least one of the two main issues which are the constitutional developments on both sides of the island. She said both councils made presentations on the topic while they were not able to deal with other issue which is the economical development on each side. "There was so much to talk about on the Constitutional process that we had to put off the economical issue which would deal with the stimulus package for the next meeting." Wescot Williams said.
Wescot Williams also confirmed that there are a number of meetings taking place between the two sides on a technical level. She said it is important for elected officials to be briefed on the ongoing meetings. The idea she said is for them to get feedback and see if there is need to clear up any stumbling blocks and if necessary take decisions on these technical meetings.
Some of the issues discussed during the technical meetings are a general water and drainage system, policing. She explained that a high level meeting that was to be held on March 18 had to be adjourned and it is expected that this meeting will be held on the near future even though there is no date set yet for the next meeting.
Asked if there were confrontations during the meeting which ran over time, Wescot Williams said there were no confrontations, however, she explained that the structure of the territorial council is much different that the executive council. That difference she said is the fact members of the opposition is on the executive council while that is not the case for the Dutch side EXCO. Attending yesterday's meeting were five members of the eleven member council; they are Wescot Williams, Buncamper Molanus and Petrus de Weever, while Councilman Samuel and Illidge represented the National Alliance faction.
Yesterday's meeting was the first for the year between elected officials. A press release from GIS stated that President Gumbs in his opening remarks said the two sides are so close yet so far as he referred to the level of cooperation that existed between the two administrations. The meeting was long overdue and much had to be discussed, especially in terms of agriculture, fisheries, tourism, sea ports, education, constitutional developments, crime, taxation, governmental policies, development of statistical units, and other mutually beneficial areas that need urgent attention and that must be shared experiences so that we learn from each other, said President Gumbs. Chairman of the Central Committee Leroy De Weever said he wants to establish a bi-monthly or quarterly meeting so that these issues which is mutual interest. Also present at the meeting was Senator Louis Constant Fleming who gave an explanation on how the French side attained its new status, while Wescott Williams explained the plight of the constitutional developments and the current situation on the Dutch side.
