PORT ST. MAARTEN – Two members from Port St. Maarten and the director of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, recently returned after attending Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Executive Summit that took place in Miami, Florida from December 4-6. Port St. Maarten, a Diamond member of CLIA, will be working on fostering a greater relationship with the European Union (EU) market through its involvement with CLIA. This is part of Port St. Maarten’s Post-Irma strategic business development and marketing approach that is being executed by representatives of the recently established Cruise Business Unit. Destination St. Maarten received a very good…
Author: The Publisher
Philipsburg — The Chairman of the Central Voting Bureau for the election of the members of the Parliament of Sint Maarten hereby – in accordance with article 22, paragraph 4 of the Electoral Ordinance – publicly announces the following: Political parties that are registered at the Electoral Council can submit their lists of candidates for the upcoming Parliamentary Election – to be held on February 26th 2018 – to the chairman of the Central Voting Bureau, or a member of said bureau that has been designated by him, between 9am and 4pm on Postulation Day, which is set for January…
Philipsburg — Police continue, on a daily basis, to conduct traffic controls at different locations on the island. On Wednesday December 13th during these controls a total of 80 vehicles were stopped for control. Of these controls a total of 71 vehicles were stopped for control and to have illegal tint removed from the driver and front passenger side of their vehicle. All drivers were again warned of this traffic violation. Four fines were given to drivers for other traffic violations and one scooter was towed. At present all drivers with illegally tinted windows are given a warning and sent…
On the initiative of Minister of Justice, Raphael A. Boasman, officials of the Ministry of Justice of St. Maarten joined the more than 150 representatives of governments and criminal justice authorities of the 34 countries and territories of the Americas, private sector and international organizations to participate in the Hemispheric Forum on International Cooperation against Cybercrime in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from the 5th to the 7th of December 2017. Participating countries and territories included Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala,…
PHILIPSBURG – Finance Minister Richard Gibson stepped into the shoes of Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher on Wednesday with a passionate address about the needs of St. Maarten’s tourism industry. On Tuesday, the minister already announced in Parliament a provision of 8 million guilders for the training of hospitality workers. During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, he went all out about the changes that are necessary to maintain competitive as a tourism destination. “For years our tourism economy has shown a downward trend. So what can we do? It is easy to figure out what tourists…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance sentenced Jermaine Carty to 30 months of imprisonment for his role in an armed robbery at the Abu Ghazi restaurant in Madame Estate on June 14. Of the sentence, 10 months are suspended; The verdict is significantly lower than the prosecution’s demand for a 5-year prison term. The reason for the lower verdict is that the court did not find the 29-year old defendant guilty of complicity and considered him only as an accessory to the crime that was committed by Andy P. and a man called Jones. Carty was the driver of…
PHILIPSBURG – Sheldon Akeem Kareem G. and Michael Haze A. remain in custody in the Pointe Blanche jail until their trial on March 14 of next year. The Court in First Instance rejected requests by the two men’s attorneys to terminate or suspend their pre-trial detention on Wednesday. Sheldon G. is charged with two armed robberies at supermarkets on March 23 and of attempted manslaughter on police officers when he tried to escape on March 29. Michael A. is charged with the same crimes and also with another armed robbery that took place on April 16. The men are furthermore…
PHILIPSBURG – “You need to tap into the greed of business people.” Finance Minister Richard Gibson said on Wednesday about the fastest way to rebuild the country’s devastated economy after Hurricane Irma. The minister said that he had spoken with former Minister Plasterk, his successor at Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops and with Nico Schoof, Head of Mission (HOM) for the reconstruction of St. Maarten about making money available at low interest rates to businesses. “Why businesses? Because they hire people. You rely on businesses to employ people and to create economic activity.” the minister said, adding that the idea has…
PHILIPSBURG – There is no reason to panic, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said at an impromptu press conference on Wednesday afternoon about the country’s financial position, after stmaartennews.com reported – based on a letter from financial supervisor Cft – that the government would run out of money by the end of December. “The alarm is unfounded.’ Minister Gibson said. “We have been lobbying for budget support from the Netherlands and the Cft has supported that request. In terms of available funds, as of Tuesday, we have 26 million guilders in the bank and those are not the only funds we…
PHILIPSBURG – With 9 votes to 3, the Parliament approved the national ordinance Integrity Chamber on Wednesday afternoon, thus paving the way for the release of €550 million in Dutch funding for the reconstruction of the island. National Alliance MP Rodolphe Samuel voted with the new coalition of eight – United People’s party, Democratic Party and USp-MP Chanel Brownbill in favor of the ordinance. DP-MP Perry Geerlings underlined the need for the Integrity Chamber with a passionate statement. “A lot of integrity breaches have taken place since the caretaker government is in office.’ he said. “We know about integrity-breaches in…
