GREAT BAY(DCOMM):---Minister Plenipotentiary, the Honorable Drs. Jorien Wuite, on Friday July 7th attended her very first Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting, since taking up her post as Minister in The Hague, the Netherlands.
During this meeting, amongst other pressing matters, the Minister presented the position of the Government of Sint Maarten in relation to the matter of the request for liquidity support, as brought forward by the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten.
This being the last meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers prior to the holiday recess, the liquidity support based on Article 36 of the Kingdom Statutes was, if not, the most pressing agenda point during this meeting.
With the decision made by the Kingdom Council of Ministers, paving the way for said support to be granted, as Sint Maarten had complied with her obligation to present a Budget and include a request for liquidity support which had to be supported by an advice given from the Committee of Financial Supervision of Curacao and Sint Maarten CFT, the outcome of this meeting can be deemed successful.
This as it is not the responsibility of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to grant said request, but rather to advise, thanks to the meticulous and hard work carried out by the previous and present Minister of Finance on Sint Maarten, Minister Wuite’s presentation to the Council was made easier as all relevant information was readily available.
The honorable Drs. Jorien Wuite, further made use of this occasion to formally introduce herself to the Kingdom Council of Ministers and to her fellow Ministers Plenipotentiary representing respectively Curacao and Aruba.
During this introduction, Minister Wuite stressed the point of building strong and lasting partnerships to ensure positive outcomes and foster better communication and understanding between the Kingdom partners.
Minister Wuite further reiterated the need to receive all agenda’s and underlying documents of the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting in a more timely manner, a sentiment which had been expressed by fellow Ministers Plenipotentiary of Curacao and Aruba.
This process, once adopted and instated would allow for a more adequate preparation period of the meetings by the individual Kingdom partners equally.
This would greatly assist in getting clearer understanding of the dossiers presented for deliberations at these meetings. As it would allow the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary to better translate the requirements and provide sound advice to the Council of Ministers on Sint Maarten in general and to the Prime Minister of Sint Maarten in particular.
This is of paramount importance in the process of proper representation for Sint Maarten, especially during this critical stage in which the interests of Sint Maarten are to be guarded and championed during the recovery period.