A photo taken during the working visit.
PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Anna Richardson recently met with St. Maarten Customs head Anthony Doran and high-ranking Customs officials Franklin Bernadina and Otto de Vries to discuss the agency’s operations and finances.
The Customs officials gave a presentation to Richardson about the agency, highlighting its development, strengths and weaknesses, and responsibilities and goals.
The presentation was followed by a tour of Customs’ harbour and airport facilities. The tours aimed to give Richardson more insight into the agency’s daily activities.
“Part of the visit involved showing the minister how the officers select which [pieces of – Ed.] cargo they inspect and how the inspection is executed based on [prior] risk analysis,” it was stated in a press release issued by the Justice Ministry on Monday.
Richardson said she had requested this meeting “as a way to build stronger working relationships through information exchange and open dialogue.”
She said she will have similar meetings with other agencies and departments in the coming weeks.
“Having a better understanding of the agencies allows for better support,” said Richardson. “My goal is to be able to facilitate and strengthen all of the agencies [in the country]. To do so, I must first have a discussion to know what their strengths are, and in which areas they need extra support.”
