Plasterk on farewell visit to all six islands

Dutch caretaker Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk will travel to St. Maarten on August 13 for a six-day farewell visit to the Dutch Caribbean. He will meet government officials on all six islands, starting with the Windward Islands.

The main focus of the visit are the talks with principal government officials, including the Governors and the Prime Ministers, about the developments of the past few years and the cooperation within the Kingdom.
After his arrival in St. Maarten on Sunday, Plasterk and his delegation will first visit Saba on Monday morning followed by St. Eustatius that same afternoon.

In St. Eustatius and Saba, the Minister will meet with the Executive Council and Island Council of both islands. In St. Eustatius, he will also take a look at the renovation of the Government Guesthouse.
The Minister will be in St. Maarten on Tuesday for talks with Governor Eugene Holiday and Chairperson of the Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams. Also, he will attend a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Plasterk will pay a working visit to the project of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) to construct homes for senior citizens as well as to the local station of the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard.
On Wednesday, the Minister will visit Bonaire where he will have a meeting with both the Executive Council and the Island Council. He will also visit a nature project.
In Aruba, on Thursday, Plasterk will meet with Prime Minister Mike Eman, Governor Alfonso Boekhoudt and Chairperson of the Parliament Melvin Wyatt-Ras. The Minister will visit the renovated building of the Joint Court of Justice, a project that was financed through the Aruba Development Fund FDA.
On Friday, the Minister will be in Curaçao for meetings with Governor Lucille George-Wout and Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath. He will visit the coral project of the Caribbean Marine Biology Centre Carmabi as well as the Curaçao base of the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard.

This will be the Minister’s last visit to all six islands. Plasterk has been serving as Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations for more than four years. He was appointed Minister in the Rutte-Asscher cabinet on November 5, 2012, and took over the tasks of Minister Liesbeth Spies.
Plasterk (60), who studied biology at the University of Leiden and has a Ph.D. in mathematics and natural science, has already announced that he will be getting out of active politics once a new Dutch Government has been formed.

The Daily Herald.