Leaders promote closer
working relationship
PHILIPSBURG--President of the Collectivité of St. Martin Louis-Constant Fleming challenged officials on both sides of the island to speed up the joint partnership to achieve tangible accomplishments to present to the island’s people on St. Maarten Day 2008.
In his official address in front of the Government Administration Building, Fleming said he had stopped listening to St. Maarten/St. Martin Day speeches after years of hearing about cooperation and partnership from officials on November 11, but seeing them observing business as usual on November 12 every year.
Pointing out that after a more-than-60-year struggle, the French side now had the autonomy to talk and work more closely with the Dutch side, Fleming said that as responsible leaders, officials on both sides had to put together the foundation for a new partnership.
When the Treaty of Concordia was signed in 1648, the common use and sharing of resources were a necessity, he added. “We now need to wake up and realise that it is an obligation today.”
This means the leaders have “a duty” to communicate, harmonise, cooperate and plan for the future together, Fleming said. On this note, he commended Marcel Gumbs, the Dutch-side liaison between the two sides, who has been working for the past three months to forge and strengthen the partnership.
Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams added in her address that since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last November several issues of concerns to both sides, probably those that had been neglected, had surfaced and had to be dealt with.
Before the MOU, the only other formalised base that existed was the 1648 Treaty of Concordia. She added while the treaty’s relevance would never be lost, situations had arisen in modern times that were not and could not have been foreseen by the 17th century authors.
There has been ongoing working cooperation before the MOU among services such as public utilities, fire fighting, tourism and others. However, work still needs to be done to clear the blur over education and medical care, she added.
“We live in a changing world and these changes, as remote as they sometimes seem, have an effect on us as well. What happens in Europe surely has an effect on French and Dutch St. Maarten and, of course, what happens in the United States of America has an effect on this entire island,” noted Wescot-Williams.
Adding their call for togetherness on St. Maarten Day were Culture Commissioner Louie Laveist and French Territorial Councilwoman Annette Manuel-Philips.
Manuel-Philips said there was need to preserve the island’s rich cultural diversity and to take the multi-ethnic community to another level in harmony, solidarity, brotherhood, unity and peace.
Laveist wants the setting-up of a structure to meet the challenges of modern day St. Maarten and called on France and the Netherlands to respect the authority of local officials to craft agreements based on the realities of the island.
