Saba delegation in The Hague for meetings

Saba Commissioner Bruce Zagers and Island Secretary Tim Muller are currently in The Hague for talks at the various ministries, and to meet with Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament and State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops.

In the course of this week, the Saba delegation has meetings at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W), the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK), the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (SZW), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), the Ministry of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports (VWS), the Ministry of Justice and Security (J&V) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK).

Meetings are also scheduled with a number of Members of the Second Chamber, including Chairman of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations Jan Paternotte of the Democratic Party D66, and Committee Members Nevin Özütok of the green left party GroenLinks, Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) and André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party.

During the meeting at the Ministry of I&W, the harbor project and the location of the new, expanded harbor will be discussed. Current topics relating to Saba will be discussed with the various ministries. These topics vary per ministry and include issues like poverty eradication, the establishing of a social minimum, the high cost of living, the cost of electricity, the connectivity, work permits, the transfer of tasks to the Public Entity Saba and the free remittance (“vrije uitkering”).

In the meetings with the Members of Parliament, these issues were discussed as well. On Thursday, the delegation has a meeting with State Secretary Knops to discuss current developments, including the harbor project. The State Secretary was scheduled to visit Saba last week on Tuesday, but that visit had to be canceled due to the bad weather and the fact that there were no flights. Zagers and Muller return to Saba on Friday.

GIS Saba