Mercedes Lopes (GIS) with Mr. Hooker
Tuesday Sept 29, Government Guesthouse, press conference with commissioner Roy Hooker.
Some of the things Mr. Hooker said are on the frontpage of this Statianews. Other things were: Harbor masterplan is to make an extended arm on the existing pier to make the breakwater calmer. Most of the SEI money will be used for the harbor. It might be impossible to make a commercial harbor where the Terminal pier is now, because the water there is "terminal" water. The following question was asked by Mrs. Lopes: "How can Statia attract well educated Statians that live abroad". Mr. Hooker replied that we even have well educated Statians on Statia that do not have a suitable job. There are jobs and nobody seems to want to have them. Government will try to contact "Friends of Statia" and advertise more. About the division of tasks: Mr. Hooker said that on Sept. 16, the executive council had a meeting with Mr. Kamp and some kwartiermakers about the division of tasks. He showed us the booklet with all these tasks and said that we have to be realistic; if we do not have the capacity, it’s better to leave it in Dutch hands. He said that Statia does not want mining, copyright, price control and branding in Dutch hands. About Justice and Police, the negotiations are going on at this very moment. About education: There is no protocol about the language yet for the secondary education. Primary education will have English as the language of instruction with Dutch as a strong second language.
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