PHILIPSBURG--Former constitutional affairs commissioner, now opposition leader Sarah Wescot-Williams will be part of Team St. Maarten for the Kingdom Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting in Curaçao on Thursday.
Originally, Wescot-Williams was not certain she would be able to travel with the delegation today, Tuesday, because of a prior commitment to the Strong Women of the Kingdom workshop in St. Maarten.
The workshop time has been adjusted from 10:00am to 5:00pm today to 9:00am to 3:00pm due to the schedules of various participants, thus allowing Wescot-Williams to fly to Curaçao with Team St. Maarten.
Leader of Government Constitutional Affairs Commissioner William Marlin heads the delegation that will also include Finance Commissioner Xavier Blackman and advisors. They will meet Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten in Avila Hotel on Wednesday afternoon in advance of the PSG meeting.
While there is no set agenda for this meeting, Marlin told The Daily Herald he expected the talks to centre on what help the Dutch government would give St. Maarten, as promised in 2009, to assist with the build-up to country status.
A list of areas in which St. Maarten requires funds and manpower has been drafted by government and will be presented to the Dutch State Secretary Wednesday afternoon.
Constitutional Affairs Minister Roland Duncan (NA) had criticised the Dutch Government for being slow to come to St. Maarten's aid as it struggles to build many of its departments and agencies from scratch in the process for constitutional change.
St. Maarten and Curaçao are slated to become countries within the Dutch Kingdom on 10-10-10. This October date was also agreed to by the Dutch government in September 2009 for the first time since the push for the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles began in earnest with the 2000 referendum on St. Maarten.
Thursday's Kingdom PSG meeting will look at various aspects of the dismantling process and how ready the two islands are to assume the status of country. The police organisation will also be discussed during Thursday's crucial talks among the Dutch Government, the Central Government and the Island Governments of St. Maarten and Curaçao.
The three other islands of the Netherlands Antilles – Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) – will become public entities of the Netherlands as per 10-10-10.
