It’s good to know that preparations are being made for four-party consultations between the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of France, the Collectivité of St. Martin and the Government of St. Maarten scheduled for next fall (see related story). While cooperation at a local level is key on a small island shared by two countries and with an open border, certain matters nevertheless require the input of Paris and The Hague.
However, it’s important that such gatherings are not limited to the usual signing of protocols, memorandums of understanding, statements of intention, joint declarations and the like. Instead, they should – certainly over an extended period – produce tangible action with visible outcomes.
Take the decades-old and ongoing border dispute at Oyster Pond. Parties have negotiated the sea border but still not the land border that includes the inlet.
Guess what – maybe it’s time to simply apply King Solomon’s principle and divide the remaining part claimed by both sides halfway between them. In other words: get it done already.
And how about the joint sewage plant planned in the Cole Bay/Bellevue region for many years now. It’s truly sad that European Union (EU) funding had long been approved for this project that stalled over a suitable location.
Meanwhile, wastewater continues to end up in Simpson Bay Lagoon that is so crucial to the tourism industry and especially the marine sector with its thriving yacht business. Tackling this serious pollution issue is actually a no-brainer from an environmental, economic, public health and social point of view.
So, those are the kinds of things people would like to once-and-for-all see happen rather than just be talked about. For these meetings to make sense, they must be result-oriented.
