~ NAGICO is the Platinum Sponsor ~ PHILIPSBURG – The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten, in conjunction with the Windward Islands Medical Association, and their Platinum Sponsor, NAGICO Insurances, will hold a conference for medical professionals on the state of Diabetes treatment and care on St. Maarten on October 11 – 12, 2019 at the Belair Community Center. The conference is expected to be attended by more than 100 medical professionals from around the region, and 5 international experts in the field of Diabetes. A FREE Public Meeting on Diabetes will precede the medical conference on Thursday evening, October 10,…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The White and Yellow Cross Foundation’s attempts to get answers from the government about who is to blame for the large-scale looting that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Irma in September 2017 have been stonewalled by the government with non-disclosure arguments. The foundation posed 84 questions in three separate letters – sent between December 8, 2017 and January 16, 2018, basing its right to get answers on the Freedom of Information Act (landsverordening openbaarheid van bestuur). The foundation posed questions about military assistance, the deployment of the police and about more general hurricane-related matters. It is unclear…
PHILIPSBURG – The Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations is investing €70 million ($77 million) in combating corruption in Curacao, St. Maarten and the BES-islands between 2016 and 2021. This appears from a letter State Secretary Raymond Knops sent to the Dutch parliament on October 7. In it, Knops details the results of the anti-corruption task force (Team Bestrijding Ondermijning – TBO) since it started in 2016. In 2015, the ministry made €22 million available for a period of two years to combat undermining criminality on the islands. During the Judicial Four Party Consultation in 2015 the justice ministers…
THE HAGUE – The governing coalition of VVD, CDA, D66 and Christian Union lost its majority in the Dutch parliament last week after the VVD kicked its MP Wybren van Haga first out of the faction and then out of the party. Van Haga continues now as an independent member of parliament. He did not jump ship: he was pushed overboard. The coalition and the opposition now both have 75 seats in the 150-seat parliament. The situation seems similar to the one in St. Maarten when United Democrats faction leader Franklin Meyers declared himself independent. That left the governing coalition…
MAHO — The private sector on St Maarten has to step up and invest in improving the overall experience of cruise tourists visiting the island. Michele Paige, President of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), doesn’t mince words. “Government, Port St. Maarten and the FCCA can’t do it alone. Merchants have to make sure that people will want to come off the ship.” People-To-People experiences are the “IT” for travelers, Paige assures. “Don’t be afraid to share your culture and show your history. You have to make your island stand out.” Cruise passengers spend on average a little over four hours…
PHILIPSBURG – On April 24, 2014, the Council of Ministers approved a rather unique document: the National Energy Policy for Country Sint Maarten. The document has an ambitious subtitle: Towards a sustainable development. It looked like the era of renewable energy had finally arrived on the island. But more than five years later nothing much has been done with the lofty targets the government had in mind at the time. While solar energy production has taken the world by storm, St. Maarten has stayed behind in the dark ages. And it’s not like the technology is unavailable or that people…
PHILIPSBURG – The Honourable Stuart Johnson, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunications (TEATT) has finalized months of discussions with the island of Saba and recently signed an MOU with the neighbouring island on co-operate and collaborate in fostering a closer working relationship in the tourism development and promotion of the islands of Sint Maarten and Saba. The MOU, signed by Minister Johnson representing the Council of Ministers and Government of St. Maarten and Saba Commissioner Bruce Zagers representing the Saba Tourism Bureau, states that both parties agree to “co-operate in participating together at Marketing and Sales promotions in…
PHILIPSBURG – Cruise Tourism in St. Maarten is in a deep existential crisis, no matter how seemingly optimistic outgoing Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson spins the story. Cruise tourism has been a boon to the destination for decades; now it has turned into the local economy’s Achilles’ Heel. The numbers paint a gloomy picture of an industry that is desperately fighting to get back on its feet after Hurricane Irma. In 2014, the port welcomed a record number of 2 million cruise passengers who spent on average $191 on the island. But in the wake of Hurricane Irma,…
POND ISLAND – The Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings on Monday took note of an article attributed to the Sint Maarten Consumers Coalition with respect to the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) between Social and Health Insurances (USZV) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Glen Carty and the minister as merely a ‘publicity stunt.’ Minister Geerlings said, without any further explanation on the aim of the alleged ‘publicity stunt,’ the Consumers Coalition is incorrect, and this is a form of ‘cheap politics.’ “The payment arrears are part of debt servicing to be solved and is an integral part of the…
PHILIPSBURG – Farm today or die tomorrow. That was the in-your-face text on a billboard in front of the agricultural ministry in Anguilla several years ago. Agriculture in St. Maarten has always been a bit of a sideshow with a few locals – like Bushman, Joselyn Richardson and Denicio Wyatte – among the few who make serious work of it. Now there is Shola the Farmer, a young woman who went from growing vegetables in her backyard to a full-blown organic farm in Cupecoy, heralding the arrival of a new generation that could make farming palatable to more locals. Shola…
