The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams discussed during her Radio Program One on One with the Prime Minister on Friday the importance that various items which have been taking place in Government have on the community of St. Maarten. The Prime Minister stated that items such as the recently held Millennium Acceleration Framework, the pending rehabilitation of the Dutch Quarter District through the European Development Fund (EDF) and St. Maarten being a new member of the Association of Caribbean States are significant projects which are strengthening the representation and development of St. Maarten: "The community needs to understand the major changes that we have undergone as country St. Maarten. 101010 has brought along many responsibilities for St. Maarten and it is evident that the focus right now is on a new role and new responsibilities for St. Maarten. This is clear especially regarding the Millennium Acceleration Framework project, the new upgrades to the Dutch Quarter Community through the signing of the EDF and the membership of the country to the Association of Caribbean States," stated Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.
The Prime Minister stated that St. Maarten has joined in with a global push to address the issues that were found lagging coming out of the Millennium Development Goals resulting in a closer focus on Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Sustainability: "The way to go for all countries in order to move forward is to have standards and goals for the future development of their country and people. The United Nations developed eight goals in order to determine how countries are progressing in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. These goals focus on education, health, gender equality, women empowerment, poverty, the environment etc. The standard that have been developed gives countries an idea how they can gauge themselves. A progress report on the Millennium Development Goals came out that included both St. Maarten and Curacao that showed that our country was doing good in some of the eight areas while other areas showed that there was a need to be further studied due to the relationship between economic development, social development and environmental sustainability. Now that it has been determined that we are lagging behind in these goals the bottlenecks and solutions have been identified and projects will be developed.
"Similarly, with the signing of the European Development Fund agreement St. Maarten will be expected to manage its own 10th EDF execution with the designated project being the upgrading of Dutch Quarter.
The management structure that will be put in place is a critical component to ensure that the project is executed within the parameters and guidelines of European funding. Also with regards to the Association of Caribbean States we now have the capacity to meet with the ACS which us a voice in the region, for example on being against the sanctions on Cuba. The ACS is also very active in terms related to the Caribbean Sea with a focus on its protection and linkages between the various countries within the region. It is important that we remain a player in the region and that we strengthen the bonds between us and the Nations of the Caribbean," concluded the PM.
One on One with the Prime Minister airs weekly ever Friday from nine to ten on 98.1 Pearl FM. Callers can call in on 5430462 or can send emails to oneononewithpm@gmail.com with their questions.