Saba Commissioner Bruce Zagers (right) met with Member of the Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber Ronald van Raak of Socialist Party (SP) on Tuesday, October 1.
SABA/THE HAGUE--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 Employment (SZW); the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science OCW; the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport 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 Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations Chairman Jan Paternotte of the centre-democrat 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 conservative VVD party.
The harbour project and the location of the new, expanded harbour will be discussed during the meeting at the I&W Ministry.
Current topics relating to Saba will be discussed with the various ministries. These topics vary per ministry and include issues such as 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”). These issues were also discussed in the meetings with the Members of Parliament.
The delegation has a meeting with Knops on Thursday to discuss current developments, including the harbour project. Knops was scheduled to visit Saba last week Tuesday, but his visit had to be cancelled due to the bad weather and the fact that there were no flights.
Zagers and Muller return to Saba on Friday.
