The University of St. Martin(USM), through a series of lectures, will be offering the community of St. Maarten an opportunity to hear from government officials and other experts in their fields who are participating in building country St. Maarten.
The first of the lecture series will be held on May 14th 2010 at the USM. The duration of the lecture is 3 hours, commencing from 7.00 p.m. until 10.00 p.m
According to USM President Josianne Fleming-Artsen, the main objective is to inform the community and bring about more consciousness on the constitutional status. She added that the first lecture is called The Duncan Lecture, with the theme How prepared are we?" The guest speakers will be Minister Roland Duncan and his team.
Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles recently passed the ‘Duncan Law’ or the Transition Regulation Early Elections which paves the way for St. Maarten to move closer to Country status. Minister Duncan is expected to address the finer details of ‘Duncan Law’, and the preparedness of country St. Maarten, as we step out of the Netherlands Antilles.
Minister Duncan was also a delegate to the second Chamber discussions where St. Maarten and Curacao were given the green light to become country by 10.10.10. He was instrumental in the entire dismantling process and will be updating the public on this matter.
Accompanying Minister Duncan is Mr. Terry Peterson who will address and focus on the Caribbean and International alliances Country St. Maarten will be networking with. These are all new areas St. Maarten will be venturing into since this was the authority of the Netherlands Antilles.
"USM is very proud to be able present to the St. Maarten public the opportunity to be informed at these lecture series," President Fleming said.
She added that the lecturers are selected based on their profound knowledge of Kingdom Principles of the Netherlands, Constitutional changes that will affect our country laws and government tax laws based on the new Draft Constitution for Country St. Maarten.
The general public is invited to attend the first of the USM’s lecture series on Thursday, May 14, 2010 at the University of St. Martin from 7pm to 10pm. All the lectures are free. The USM lecture hall has a seating capacity for about 200 people and attendants are urged to be on time.