Project on Small and Medium Enterprises Amongst Those to be coordinated by St. Maarten Through 2020
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams has been nominated as the Caribbean Regional Authorizing Officer for the Dutch and British Caribbean Overseas Country’s and Territories of the European Union (COCT) during the COTC conference held in Little Bay Montserrat last week. This role for the Prime Minister as regional authorizing officer means that coordination of the Caribbean-wide project that will be approved from the points discussed at the meeting will be done by St. Maarten through 2020. The points discussed during the two-day conference included items such as the updating of the OCTs on the status of Small and Medium Enterprise program remaining from 10th EDF, to select the sectors for submission for regional cooperation within the 11th EDF, to select countries to work on the proposals for the selected sectors, to select the Regional Authorizing Officer for this programming period and to commit to cooperate with other EU partners in the region namely the ACP and Overseas Regions of Europe.
As a result of the meeting the Caribbean Wide Project concerning Small and Medium Enterprise program is currently in full swing with the first steering committee meeting and stakeholder forum to be held in the British Virgin Islands on the 2nd of June, 2014
Various sectors for regional cooperation were also discussed including the biodiversity and climate change envelope focusing on renewable energy and waste management, the regional envelope on Tourism which will be steered by St. Maarten and the Health envelope which will be steered by the British Virgin Islands.
With Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams being nominated regionally as the Regional Authorizing Officer for the Dutch and British Caribbean OCT’s the coordination of the project that will be approved from the above mentioned options will be done by St. Maarten through 2020
In connection with the commitment to cooperate with all regional partners, St. Maarten is now preparing to sign a letter of intent of cooperation with St. Martin for a European funded infrastructural development project accessed through the French.
There will be a press conference on the ongoing developments with regards to St. Maarten’s Role in the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union on Monday, May 18th 2014 at eleven am at the AC Wathey Legislative Hall.