State secretary Knops visits St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba
State secretary Knops (Interior and Kingdom Relations) is visiting the three Windward Islands from Monday, November 27th, until Sunday, December 3rd.
The visit is divided in two parts. From November 27th until November 30th, the State Secretary first has his own program. Afterwards, he accompanies his Majesty the King and her Majesty Queen Máxima, who will pay a visit to St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba from November 30th until December 2nd.
During his own program of this first visit, State Secretary Knops will have talks with officials, representatives of the business community and NGOs on reconstruction needed as a result of Hurricane Irma. He also visits various organizations and institutions on the islands.
The State Secretary is looking forward to his first visit to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands since his appointment: "I want to be able to see for myself how the situation is now, for the people of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba. After the heavy hurricanes that have affected the Islands, emergency aid was started right away. In addition, the Cabinet recently released funding of 550 million Euros for St. Maarten and 67 million Euros for Saba and St. Eustatius for the necessary reconstruction. Now we have to start to work with that quickly.”
The program of State Secretary Knops starts Monday, November 27th on St. Maarten. He visits Saba starting the afternoon of November 28th . Finally, the State Secretary will visit St. Eustatius where he will arrive in the afternoon of November 29th.
From Thursday,November 30th, State Secretary Knops accompanies his Majesty the King and her Majesty the Queen during their visit to St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten.