PHILIPSBURG:--- Cor Merx, legal representative of the St. Maarten School Bus Owners Association (hereafter: Association).

It has been several months since the Association has been in contact with the Minister of Education regarding the contract for the coming year(s).

The minister wants to have a lot of changes done as the association agrees with but the Minister is not willing to pay the price a school bus driver deserves to deliver and pick up our children from school in a safe way.

Recently the minister informed the association that they have to sign or to leave and he will bring the contract in a “bidding”. The association is astonished and requested a meeting with the minister.

To make a long story short: the minister sticks with his point of view.

For that reason, the association will hold a meeting with all the school bus drivers on Pondfill Road across from Blue Point at 12:00 p.m. today. In this meeting, the members of the association will consider a “slow-motion” in delivering and picking up children from school. They do not want to harass the parents for something the minister has to take care of. That means that – maybe after this meeting school busses will not be in time for as long as the minister is refusing to change his point of view.

It is not excluded that the next stage will be a total strike…… the members do not want that but will have no other choice.

POINTE BLANCHE:---  Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) would like to inform mariners and other stakeholders that the Proselyte Reef/Man of War Shoals Marine Park marker buoy located south of Port St. Maarten has been reinstalled at the reef.
The marker buoy was removed on August 23 and returned to its original location at 17 degrees 59.35 minutes North and 063 degrees and 03.68 West.
The repositioning of the buoy was delayed due to wave action caused by the recent passing of Hurricane Lee to the north of the Leeward Islands.
The yellow and black buoy is known as a west cardinal marker with a white flashing light that flashes nine times every 10 seconds at night.
The buoy is located at a key transit route in and out of Port St. Maarten and marks the important protected location of the reef and marine park which is a habitat for different types of fish and coral species.
Ships are not allowed to anchor or transit and must go around the protected area which is marked by the buoy.

WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG:--- Communication professionals at regional central banks commonly encounter shared challenges as their organizations move from traditional, closed central banks to more open and transparent institutions. This underscores the significance of collaboration in the area of communication within the region. This was one of the key takeaways from the 1st Regional Central Bank Communication Workshop, held in Curaçao from September 13 to 15. The workshop, titled “Transitioning into a New Era of Central Banking Communications in the Caribbean,” was the initiative of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS). Several regional and international central bank communications professionals convened on our island for the three-day workshop.
CBCS President Richard Doornbosch presided over the official opening of the workshop. Next, David-Jan Jansen (De Nederlandsche Bank) kicked off as keynote speaker, delivering his presentation titled “Communication and Transparency in Central Banks: Research & Practice,” in which he stressed the importance of communication with the general public. Thierry Bangratz & Petr Jakubik (IMF/CARTAC) followed, speaking respectively on communication from a supervisory perspective and on communication concerning financial stability. David Hofman (IMF) highlighted the evolution of communication from a monetary policy perspective. Paul Badertscher (Bank of Canada) presented on the transformation of communication from the perspective of the Central Bank of Canada. Special guest speaker Volodymyr Lepushynskyi (National Bank of Ukraine), traveling to Curaçao from the war zone, gave a presentation on monetary policy in times of crisis and its associated communication, citing recent examples from the Central Bank of Ukraine.
The keynote addresses were interspersed with various island cases presented by Bank of Jamaica, the Central Bank of Barbados, the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, and the CBCS. “Central banks, as public entities, need to strike the right balance between, on the one hand, maintaining their identity as prudentially responsible regulators transitioning into more open and accessible authorities, and, on the other hand, taking into account the spirit of the times and speaking a language that the community understands,” said Nancy Guttenberg-van der Wal, Head of Corporate Communications at the CBCS. The conference was moderated by Marek Petruš, an international communications consultant specializing in the field of central banks. Petruš also delivered an introductory presentation titled “Enhancing Transparency and Communications: Present-Day Challenges (& Opportunities) in the Caribbean.”
Other workshop participants were Centrale Bank van Aruba, Centrale Bank van Suriname, the Central Bank of the Bahamas and the Central Bank of Belize.
The workshop, considered a great success by the participants, also saw the official establishment of a communications network among the participating central banks. CBCS envisions this as the start of a lasting tradition, with a different central bank taking on the organizing responsibilities for each subsequent event.
Willemstad, September 22, 2023
CENTRALE BANK VAN CURAÇAO EN SINT MAARTEN

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM);--- The Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Department of the Government of Sint Maarten was alerted to a phishing email blast originating from the email account of a civil servant.
Upon investigation of the account, it appears that their email was indeed compromised and sending out phishing emails to the contact list and previous persons that were in their correspondence.
Mitigation actions were taken to avoid the further spread of these malicious emails and further security measures are being taken to limit such risks in the future.
While this incident is unfortunate, the government’s internal network has not been compromised nor has any systems been affected.
There’s been no data loss nor further security risks detected. The ICT Department continues to monitor for any additional risks and continues to prioritize strengthening its environment to avoid such situations.