Signing of the MoU in the Canary Islands during the conference.
President Gibbs points out details in the images at a photo exhibition showing the destruction in St. Martin by Hurricane Irma.
MARIGOT--President Daniel Gibbs is currently attending the 23rd Conference of Presidents of the Ultra Peripheral Regions (CPRUP) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, alongside representatives of Europe's eight Outermost Regions (ORs). At the end of the conference, St. Martin will chair the CPRUP for a period of one year.
On his arrival in Las Palmas on Wednesday, November 21, President Gibbs was welcomed by his counterpart, Canary Islands President Fernando Clivajo, in the presence of presidents and elected officials of the other member territories.
Among them were: President of the Executive Council of Martinique Alfred Marie-Jeanne, Marie-Luce Penchard, the 2nd Vice-President of the Guadeloupe Region, and elected representatives of French Guiana, Mayotte, the Azores and Réunion.
Meeting at Casa De Colon, the Christophe Colon Museum in Las Palmas, President Clivajo and President Gibbs signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between St. Martin and the Canary Islands aimed at establishing cooperation between the two territories in the context of transfer of power from the Presidency of the Conference of Presidents.
By signing this MoU, the two territories wanted to demonstrate their firm desire to strengthen cooperation and inter-island coordination in areas of common interest for the well-being of their populations and the socio-economic development of their regions. The presidents wished to strengthen their political proximity through increased and more frequent technical cooperation between the ORs within the Conference of Presidents.
The MoU provides for concrete cooperation actions in promising areas such as Research, Development and Innovation (RDI), Renewable Energies, Tourism and Port Development, Adaptation to the effects of climate change and Youth Mobility.
Following the signing, President Clivajo and President Gibbs presented a photographic exhibition organised by the Canary Islands government and the Collectivité of St. Martin on the theme "St. Martin, Resilience of an island". Via the images taken by four St. Martin photographers – Nathalie Beaurain, Claudio Arnell, Steph Déziles and Laurent Bayly – the many guests and Spanish press were able to discover and feel the impact of the hurricane in the region and the tremendous resilience of the inhabitants.
A joint press conference was given by the two presidents to wrap up the first evening. It was an opportunity to strengthen ties between the ORs and to establish stronger cooperation on major overseas and European issues. Gibbs reaffirmed his willingness to continue cooperation efforts with the ORs and work closely with the member territories.
On Thursday, November 22, the final declaration of the member territories was recorded, to be followed on Friday, November 23, by the official partnership session in the presence of the King of Spain and the European authorities.
