SXMElections.com

William: Europe Trip Waste Of Taxpayers Monies, 50 Mil Loan Brokered By Na-Led Govt.

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Former Prime Minister William Marlin says the recent trip to Europe by Minister of Finance Michael Ferrier and Interim Prime Minister Leona Marlin Romeo was a total waste of tax payers’ monies as the 50 million guilders loan agreement signed days ago between St Read more

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Final Emergency Operations Meeting Held At Fire & Ambulance Building

CAY HILL –  On Friday October 6th the final Emergency Operations Center (EOC) meeting was held at the Fire & Ambulance Building, marking the end of the emergency response to Hurricane Irma. The next phase will be the road to recovery, which entails the rebuilding of Sint Maarten.

The EOC was called in to action on September 1st in preparation for the approaching Hurricane Irma. Since that time the EOC has met regularly and at the peak of the response at least once daily. Th Read more

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Message Of Hon. Prime Minister Mr. William Marlin At The Opening Of The Basic Legal Course

St. Maarten, Monday, August 14, 2017.

Our governing program for 2016-2020 is entitled, “Stability for Prosperity”. It is anchored on five strategic objectives, all of which can only be achieved by upgrading our government apparatus.  We are not even one year into this governing period yet and we can see that various initiatives that are geared towards a profound transformation of our society are already taking shape. One of those initiatives is why we are gathered here today. Nobody knows the challenges that this coalition government faces better than the civil servants who do their utmost day in, day out, to give professional support to government Read more

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Minister Gibson: Reforming And Simplifying Our Tax System

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. addressed members of the press in Wednesday’s, June 14, Council of Ministers Press Briefing.

He announced that the division of the assets of the Netherlands Antilles resulted in St. Maarten receiving its share of NAf Read more

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Minister Gibson: We Are Not Producing Sufficient Revenues To Cover The Needs Of All Ministries

 

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. addressed members of the press in Wednesday’s, June 7, Council of Minister’s Press Briefing.

He announced that the Moody’s report is out and had been published. The Moody’s report is a tool for international investors and others to be able to evaluate the obligations that St Read more

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Minister Boasman: ‘Hectic And Rough’ 1St Quarter

PHILIPSBURG – Acting Prime Minister and Minister responsible for the Ministry of Justice Rafael Boasman addressed members of the media in Wednesday’s, May 31, Council of Ministers Press Briefing.

After announcing that Prime Minister William Marlin was off-island, he went on to inform that he had received the draft of the 1st quarter report of the Progress Committee Read more

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Com Hosts Information Session For Management Teams Of Seven Government Ministries

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – On Friday, March 31, the Council of Ministers hosted an Information Session to the Secretaries General of the seven different Ministries and their Management Team, the Staff of the Ministers cabinet, and the Staff of the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.

The main agenda points of the session were the Governing Program; integrity and the plans of the Dutch Government towards establishing an Integrity Chamber on Sint Maarten and their recent appointment of a Dutch Integrity Quartermaster and an update on the budget 2017.

The Council found it essential to inform the key leaders and advisors of the organization in person about these key matters.

While the Prime Minister, William Marlin, spoke on the issues of the Governing Program and Integrity, the Minister of Finance, Richard Gibson Sr., elaborated on the budget.

At the same time both Ministers stressed the importance of the role of each civil servant in the process of making Sint Maarten great Read more

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Com Meets With Full Complement Of Ministers Last Tuesday

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication, Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher, joined her colleague Ministers in her first Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, April 4.

The meeting was adjourned for the Ministers to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Minister Arrindell-Doncher and resumed after.

At the onset, Minister co-signed her first national decree which contained the so-called ‘vervangingsregeling’, which regulates which minister replaces another minister when he / she is unable to execute his / her responsibilities; this can, for example, be related to illness, travel on behalf of government, or vacation.

With a complete Council of Ministers consisting of seven ministers, the replacement overview is now as follows:

Prime Minister / Minister of General Affairs, Mr Read more

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Minister Gibson On Screening Central Bank Candidates

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. gave a very brief report in Wednesday’s, March 22, Council of Ministers Press Briefing.

He talked about screening for certain positions, which “are deemed by the law to be confidential positions and whoever is appointed to occupy them is subject to a screening process, and the screening process requires that they have to pass the screening process Read more

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Minister Gibson: Let’S Keep Up This Trend

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson in Wednesday’s, March 15, Council of Ministers Press Briefing gave a short update on his Ministry’s activities.

This week he was paid a visit by Minister of Finance of Curaçao Kenneth Gijsbertha, where in an extensive meeting, common issues were addressed, amongst which the Central Bank Read more

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Sarah Tests System Of Kingdom’S Responsibilities In ‘De-Risking’ Case

PHILIPSBURG – Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams sent a letter to the Kingdom government requesting the Kingdom Council of Ministers’ views on the matter of derisking by foreign banks.

Wescot-Williams sent her letter via St Read more

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Prime Minister: Prevention Is Better Than Cure

PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister (PM) William Marlin gave an update on discussions he took part in during his attendance to the OCT Forum in Aruba, in Wednesday’s, March 8, Council of Ministers Press Briefing.

First, he publicly congratulated Carol Voges, who is part of the work cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague, and who attends the OCTA meetings “on our behalf often times in Brussels,” on being elected as Chair of the Executive Committee of OCTA for 2017 Read more

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Minister Of Finance: It System Held Together With Hanger Wires And Tape

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson addressed the Press in Wednesday’s, March 8, Council of Minister’s press briefing.

First, he mentioned the closing of the Receiver’s and Census Offices “because of a smell that was detected this morning in the building. It has not been discovered yet where that smell is coming from, what’s the source of the smell or the nature of the smell, whether it is sewage, electrical, or another.”

“The Fire Department came and aired out the building, and hopefully by lunchtime there is a plan that the Receiver of taxes, the Census office will again open,” he said.

“We’ve been experiencing breach in terms of a virus attack again Read more

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Minister Of Finance Meets With Deloitte Partners

 

PHILIPSBURG – On March 1, Minister of Finance Richard Gibson met with Managing Partner and Tax Partner of Deloitte in the Dutch Caribbean Julian Lopez-Ramirez, to discuss the most recent developments in national and international fiscal affairs.

Lopez-Ramirez took this opportunity to also present the published inau Read more

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Prime Minister Marlin Leads High Powered Delegation To Aruba

ARUBA — Last week, Prime Minister of St. Maarten, Mr. William Marlin, the Minister Plenipotentiary, Mrs. Henrietta Doran-York, the Secretary General of the Ministry of General Affairs, Mr Read more

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Minister Gibson Clarifies Regatta Subsidy

PHILIPSBURG – In Wednesday’s Council of Ministers Press Briefing, Minister of Finance Richard Gibson briefly gave clarity on granting the Heineken Regatta subsidy.

“We’ve got rules. The law says that if you give subsidy, that after you have gotten subsidy, you have to give accounting of the subsidy you’ve received Read more

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Gibson: Budget 2017 Approved By Cft

PHILIPSBURG – Minister of Finance Richard Gibson announced in Wednesday’s, February 8, Press Briefing that he’d received the official word in the form of a formal letter from the CFT that the Budget 2017 had been approved.

CFT would now advise the Kingdom that the budget is in order. “When we look back to 2017, and see what the state we were in at that time, and compare that with today, it’s tangible progress that we’re making,” Minister Gibson reported.

The Budget 2017 has a substantial sum of NAf Read more

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Minister Gibson: My Aim Is To Improve Financial Basis Of Govt. Of St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG – In Wednesday’s, January 25, Council of Ministers press briefing Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. shared provisional numbers for 2016.

“The provisional numbers that we have for 2016 is that we’ve managed the budget in such a manner notwithstanding all of the difficulties. We were confronted with, in 2016 and ended up with a provisional surplus of 1.1 million guilders for 2016,” Minister Gibson stated.

“Bear in mind at the budget 2016, we started with reserving 20 million guilders from revenues to be able to pay the debts off the past Read more

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Gibson Updates On Pearl Of China

PHILIPSBURG – During Wednesday’s, January 11, Press Briefing Minister of Finance Richard Gibson gave an update on his trip to Curaçao where he met with the Consul General of China to discuss the Pearl of China project.

He said during a lunch meeting in Curaçao, a letter sent by the Prime Minister to the Chinese government “expressing that we welcomed the entire project of Pearl of China, and that we’re moving forward to see how we can accommodate all that needs to get the project off the ground,” was discussed Read more

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Prime Minister Marlin On New Administration

PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister and Minister responsible for General Affairs William Marlin wished all a happy and prosperous 2017, in Wednesday’s Press Briefing, and said they are looking forward to being in office for four years.

“Not that it means that the government will now relax and take it easy because you have four years, but it gives you a better opportunity to plan and prepare and to execute, and to tackle many of the problems that we have had to deal with,” Prime Minister Marlin stated Read more

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New Council Of Ministers Grants Half Days To Civil Servants

PHILIPSBURG – The newly sworn in Council of Ministers held their first meeting at the Government Building on Thursday morning, December 22.

Attending the meeting were: Prime Minister William Marlin; Minister of Finance Richard Gibson; Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor Affairs Emil Lee; Minister of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports Silveria Jacobs, and Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Christophe Emmanuel.

In its first meeting, the Council of Ministers took the decision, amongst others, to grant all civil servants “half day off” on December 23, and 30 where the service permits Read more

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Age Bakker (Cft): “Budget 2017 Needs Close Monitoring”

PHILIPSBURG РThe Board of financial supervision Cura̤ao and St. Maarten (CFT) discussed the budgetary outcome for 2016 and the budget for 2017 with government officials.

CFT has not yet formally received the adjusted budget for advice. Based on the discussions it seems that the budget will be amended and sufficiently substantiated to be on the right track for 2017. However, progress still has to be made to keep the budget sustainable for the future.

Compared to 2016, the budget 2017 relies more on incidental income, such as contributions from government-owned entities Read more

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Aps Makes Presentations To Finance Minister

CUL-DE-SAC – The offices of the general pension fund APS were on Monday, November 14, the venue for several presentations made to St. Maarten’s Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr., by officials of the pension fund.

The presentations marked the Minister’s first official visit to the APS offices, during which the latter was welcomed by APS Chairman of the board Franklyn Richards and Director Nadya van Putten Read more

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De-Risking Solution Hit Snag As Dutch Islands Await Holland

PHILIPSBURG – The Dutch Caribbean islands are now facing a delay in resolving the de-risking issue facing banks in the Caribbean.

According to Minister of Finance Richard Gibson, the Dutch Caribbean islands have been asked by the US to get assistance first from the Dutch government before a solution can be pursued on this matter.

The Minister noted that the US commended the Dutch Caribbean islands and Jamaica for their approach to finding a solution to this problem Read more

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