Philipsburg:--- The Prime Ministers of St. Maarten and Curacao along with their Finance Ministers managed to sign three agreements late Monday afternoon regarding how the two countries will move forward with the impasse at the joint Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten. Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams, Prime Minister of Curacao Gerrit Schotte, Finance Minister of Curacao George Jamaloodin, and St. Maarten's Finance Minister Roland Tuitt along with their advisers spent most of the day hammering out their concerns on how the two countries will move forward when it comes to the joint Central Bank.
Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams told reporters that they managed to agree on a letter that will be sent to the Chairman of the Kingdom Council of Ministers Prime Minister Mark Rutte informing him that the two countries Curacao and St. Maarten have committed to an understanding about normalizing the functioning of the joint Central Bank. Also included in the letter to the Chairman of the Kingdom Council of Ministers are the dates of the meetings that were held between the shareholders of the two countries and intentions of the planned meetings with the Supervisory Board of the Central Bank based on article 32 and 24 of the charter of Curacao and St. Maarten which opens the possibilities for these meetings to be held.
Wescot Williams said two meetings will be held, one is in preparation for the other. These meetings she said will be held within a short period of time. St. Maarten's Prime Minister also informed reporters that the two countries have agreed to send a letter to the Supervisory Board of the joint Central Bank informing them of the decisions taken by the shareholder representatives of the two countries. The Supervisory Board was given ten days in which they must provide certain information to the shareholders representatives. The two countries are requesting the annual accounts for 2010 and 2011 while they want an operational audit to be conducted at the joint central bank. SOAB will assist in the operational audit that has to be conducted.
While the two countries managed to agree on almost every point on their way forward, they did not decide on the suspension of the Director of the Central Bank Emsley Tromp. Wescot Williams said since last week St. Maarten's delegation informed the caretaker government of Curacao that they took note of their concerns. She said Curacao indicated that there is a breach of confidence between the government of Curacao and Tromp. "Again we indicated to them that we took note of their concern but in St. Maarten's opinion an operational audit will be more effective."
Finance Minister Roland Tuitt said that eliminating Tromp will not solve the problems of the Central Bank and if the shareholders have to take different measures to solve all the problems then they will do just that. During these meetings St. Maarten will present the names of at least three persons so that one of them can be selected to fill the seventh position on the Supervisory Board of the Central Bank.
Curacao's Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte told reporters the two countries have decided to send a letter to the Supervisory Board of the Central Bank to inform them of their way forward. Schotte said that St. Maarten's main objectives are to get the Central Bank on St. Maarten fully operational and the budget of 2012 approved.
Click here to view the letter sent to the Chairman of the Kingdom Council of Ministers.