Executive Council to The Hague for CN Week

The Executive Council of the Public Entity of Saba left over the weekend for its bi-annual Caribbean Netherlands week in The Hague, reports The Daily Herald in addition to another general report about that meeting. The CN week is a week-long series of meetings, where Saba along with the other Public Entities Bonaire and St. Eustatius meet with national cabinet ministers and top-level civil servants to discuss areas of concern and also ways to improve cooperation between the two levels of government. One major point of discussion will be the upcoming evaluation scheduled for 2015 on the relationship between the public entities and the Netherlands. The Executive Council will outline the challenges that Saba has faced since the transition and will suggest that the Netherlands government streamline its approach and limit bureaucracy in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Another highlight will be the island’s development plan. They will follow up with State Secretary of Social Affairs Jette Klijnsma, who visited the island in July this year. They intend to discuss the AOV and an increase in the minimum wage. The delegation will once again stress that it is unacceptable that the AOV level in the Caribbean Netherlands is below the poverty line. Also scheduled is a meeting with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where the discussions will focus on the transition to the new electric company from GEBE and the draft law on electricity and drinking water. They will also meet with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment to talk about the island’s plan for increasing water storage capacity, further development of the harbour and waste management solutions. Other points of discussion will be Rights of the Child, Disaster Management, Security and Justice, as well as the current tax structure. The delegation will also meet with Prime Minister Mark Rutte during the visit.