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While on St. Maarten for the 10th Anniversary Conference of PANCAP, St. Maarten’s Minister of Health Social & Labor Affairs the Honorable Maria Buncamper Molanus paid a courtesy visit to Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
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While on St. Maarten for the 10th Anniversary Conference of PANCAP, St. Maarten’s Minister of Health Social & Labor Affairs the Honorable Maria Buncamper Molanus paid a courtesy visit to Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
During the informal meeting the Honorable Minister took the opportunity to discuss ways of St. Maarten as a country truly giving meaning to regional and international cooperation. A topic referred to by many speakers during the opening ceremony of PANCAP. "While St. Maarten as a country certainly is in a position to be part of the regional and international communities and thus participate in conferences and discussions, the constitutional structure as part of the Dutch Kingdom still brings with it challenges as it pertains to taking advantage of the benefits, financial or others. Such an example is that of Caricom Countries having access to medication at greatly reduced prices, for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, while St. Maarten on the other hand, the melting pot of the Caribbean in which citizens of these very same Caricom countries reside, does not enjoy the same benefits. If we are to place the individual (in this case the patient) at the center of this discussion we will quickly realize that those who these benefits are intended for do not always have access. Having considered this to be an interesting argument his Excellency Mr. Annan committed to deliver this concern to the relevant offices in the UN in order to get the debate started and as such assist St. Maarten on it’s journey to building its international relations. The former UN official invited the St. Maarten delegation to contact his office during their visit to Geneva where St. Maarten will be participating for the first time as a Country, as part of the Dutch Kingdom delegation to examine measures taken by the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Uruguay to comply with the standards of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights".
"We have a friend in Geneva" concluded Minister Buncamper Molanus "and I’m looking forward to foster the relationships we have been able to establish just a few days into our country status".