The Social Economic Council (SER) attended the celebration of their Aruban sister organization's 25th anniversary last Monday. The Aruban SER was launched the second year after the island's status aparte in 1986, and therefore celebrated their silver jubilee this year in the presence of their Caribbean counterparts.The Sint Maarten SER was represented at the ceremony by Chairman René Richardson, accompanied by SER members William Reed and Arthur Bute. Chairman Richardson in his congratulatory speech referred to the impressive economic development Aruba realized since it attained its Status Aparte, and the pivotal role the SER played in ensuring social harmony and balanced economic growth. He touched upon the social and economic challenges the rapid development entailed, and on the parallels between Aruba's and Sint Maarten's social and economic conditions. The reliance on tourism, the fast growing population and the pressure on the social and physical infrastructure are some of the similarities between the two countries. As Sint Maarten is a new country in the Kingdom and Aruba has 25 years of experience, the SER Chairman expressed the hope of a long-standing and fruitful cooperation between the two.
At the event, Governor Fredis Refunjol and Prime Minister Mike Eman reflected on the history and the role of the SER in Aruba, especially in the difficult start of the Aruban development at the time of the closing of the Lago refinery, coinciding with the achievement of the Status Aparte.
During the three day stay of the delegation, additional visits were paid to the Aruban Chamber of Commerce, to politicians involved in major socio-economic plans, and other stakeholders.
On their mission, the SER board members were accompanied by Secretary-general Gerard Richardson, senior policy adviser Arjen Alberts and policy worker Bas Peters. In a parallel program, the SER staff members extended their network to the Central Bank of Aruba, the Central Bureau of Statistics and the University of Aruba. These institutions are of crucial importance to the Sint Maarten SER due to the strong similarity between our two countries within the Dutch Kingdom.
A full report on the SER trip to Aruba will be available shortly on the SER website www.sersxm.org.
The costs involved in the SER trip to Aruba were covered by Dutch cooperation funds managed by USONA.
