Dutch willing to assist in
setting up yacht registry
PHILIPSBURG--The Netherlands is willing to assist St. Maarten in setting up a registry for big yachts.
“If St. Maarten wants to, the Netherlands will assist in building up the capability for the island to register big yachts. That would be an economically interesting activity. It’s in line with the tourism activities on the island,” said Dutch Minister of Transport and Waterways Camiel Eurlings.
He met with the Executive Council when he visited St. Maarten during his five-day tour of the Netherlands Antilles. He also visited the harbour facilities and received a tour of Princess Juliana International Airport before leaving for Saba.
Eurlings is promoting in his talks on all islands the establishment of a maritime consultative body with the participation of all partners in the Kingdom. This body will give Eurlings a tool to keep the cooperation with the islands “practical” after the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles.
He said the body was necessary because there were complex matters to be solved. However, he saw the constitutional changes ahead also as an opportunity to “make each other stronger.”
Eurlings described his talks with the Executive Council yesterday as “constructive” and said they had served the purpose of his visit to the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean as the Minister of Transport.
“What we tried to do is to prepare ourselves for the new situation of two new countries St. Maarten and Curaçao, the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba for which I will be directly responsible, and Aruba.”
He also discussed with the Executive Council the possibility that the Air Traffic Control of St. Maarten could continue serving Saba and St. Eustatius in the future.
“We are satisfied with the service of the Air Traffic Control in St. Maarten. It would be inefficient if the Netherlands would have to build an Air Traffic Control for Saba and St. Eustatius. Of course, financial agreements will have to be made with St. Maarten, determined by the cost of service rendered.”
However, there are still many more questions on aviation matters that need to be answered, such as how legal aspects will be arranged in the future and how the air space can be divided. “That’s why we agreed to organise an aviation conference in Curaçao early November.” All Kingdom partners will participate in this conference.
Another topic discussed was the Meteorological Service of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Again Eurlings said he would like a practical approach for when the Netherlands starts assuming responsibility for meteorological services for the BES islands.
“The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute KNMI will be responsible for the three islands. Also here we try to be practical. If we can avoid building a Dutch organisation, we will do so.”
He said the level of expertise of the Meteorological Service of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba was high and the Netherlands would seek to have it continue rendering service to the other islands.
However, St. Maarten criticised the quality of service it had been receiving and in this light, the Minister said he had agreed with the Executive Council that he would look into whether it would be possible to continue using the service of the meteorological office, but also guaranteeing that the organisation could really become an institution of all the islands.
