The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams together with the Prefet of St. Martin and St. Barths Philippe Chopin and the President of the Collectivite of St. Maarten Mrs. Aline Hanson signed the Letter of Intent (LoI) for cross border cooperation between both sides of the island at a signing ceremony on Monday.
The European Trans-border Cooperation (ETC) Operational Program is a program of cooperation between both sides of the island to work on various mutually important projects for both sides of the island. Prime Minister Wescot-Williams stated that administrations over the years on a technical level have been making agreements on how to move various areas forward for the people of St. Maarten. “Today is an important milestone on the history of both sides of St. Maarten, signing an agreement which started when I signed a basis for cooperation in 2006 based on the Treaty of Concordia. Now this LoI will highlight where we will be working with St. Martin North on projects that can fit with the requirements of ETC funding. We have developed an operational program so that we can keep up with accountability to the European Union. For many months our technical departments have been looking at draft Operational Programs and have outlines projects, which in our opinion has fit the scope, and we can submit for funding. One of the requirements that we have is that we put the draft operational program available and we have made this public which is now accessible on the Governments website www.sintmaartengov.org. The French Authorities have also made sure to do the same.
We have identified projects concerning a wastewater treatment facility benefitting both sides of the islands; the quality and biodiversity protection; rehabilitation and sustainable development of the Simpson Bay Lagoon; and the risk management of the flooding in the French Quarter, Dutch Quarter, and Belle Plaine Area.
With all of these actions we are having positive developments with regards to structurally getting it right in terms of upgrading the communities through using the funding made available to us by the European Union. Today we have finally together with the authorities on French St. Maarten, signed the Letter of Intent of Cooperation for the OP-ETC, which is a firm commitment to the program,” commented Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.