President Daniel Gibbs: No conditions from France for...
MARIGOT - The French part of St. Martin is not subject to conditions for receiving financial aid from France, the way the Dutch government has put demands on Dutch St. Maarten. "If there is any obligation to be put in place to receive the...
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Dear Reader
In Saturday's
newsletter, we promised to bring you more news on the Ombudsman's plans to monitor the "relief, recovery and rebuilding" process.
Click here to read the full report on her press conference last week wherein she announced her plans to investigate and monitor this process; her calls to government; her appeal to the citizens; about her appointment for a second term; and her replacement in training.
What we call the '
Mailbox Diplomacy' is in full swing with letters from our local elected officials flying off left and right to the Netherlands. Letters are effective in confirming one's position, especially after a discussion has taken place in person, or after a phone conversation or a video conference call (just to point out that it is not necessarily needed to jump on a plane to the Netherlands to achieve the same result). Letters can be viewed as polemical and the art of dealing with decision-makers lies in having a fruitful discussion in person. Nothing beats a person-to-person conversation and true diplomacy is achieved when common ground is found in a sensitive, understanding and effective manner.
We open this edition of our newsletter with the
news that France is not maintaining any conditions on financial aid to the French side for their rebuilding process. President Gibbs also points out that it is within his competency to waive building permits until October 1st, 2018. That is one of the fastest ways to rebuild a country and get the economy up and running as quickly as possible.
The same goes for soft loans with low interest to the commercial and private sectors. Minister of Finance, Richard Gibson, was in Washington at a meeting of the IMF addressing delegates from the Worldbank and the United Nations along with his counterparts from Dominica and Antigua.
Click here to read the report on this and to view a short video recording of his speech.
Financial aid for the recovery process on a hurricane-battered island like St. Maarten/Saint Martin is not meant for commercial purposes. Therefore, businesses to a large extent will have to depend on payouts from insurances and their own financial reserves to rebuild. Loans from private banks are offered at the regular commercial interest rates and given the present state of the economy, putting oneself in debt at high interest rate may not be financially viable for a company. There are certain international agencies offering rebuilding loans with interest rates as low as 3%. What is needed to secure such loans is paperwork. The same goes for the St. Maarten government in securing financial aid from the Netherlands and the EU. They will also need to do the paperwork.
Finally, the next step in the development of our news website and email service is to close off the website and allow access to our articles only to paying subscribers. Take our poll today and answer whether you would be prepared to pay for a subscription for our news service. See the poll below in this email newsletter. We will notify you when we are ready to accept
registrations for a paid subscription.
In the meantime, you can email us via info@today.sx if you wish to advertise or buy a subscription in support of our work.
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The Newspaper for Country St. Maarten
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Elton Jones writes a scathing letter to the editor. Read his letter covering a range of post-Irma topics that have been top of mind in our community, ranging from utility companies, looting and marines, to Dutch aid, conditions, immigration, border control and the salaries of members of Parliament.
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Would you pay for a subscription to this email newsletter?
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Minister Gibson asks IMF for low interest financing...
WASHINGTON - "First of all I want to express my sympathy to everyone who suffered from the hurricanes this year," Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. said at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington on Friday adding...
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Read our most popular news stories online
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Hyman tells NBAA Convention in Las Vegas: SXM Airport is ...
Simpson Bay - The Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM Airport) is open for business and so is St. Maarten. That was the message that a delegation of the airport consisting of Michel Hyman, COO/Acting CEO and members of the Supervisory...
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Fire at W.I.B. on Bush road - TODAY - The Newspaper for...
GREAT BAY - On Sunday October 15 at approximately 12.30 p.m. police patrols were directed to the branch of the Windward Island Bank located in the Grand Marche complex on Bush road where a fire was reported. On the scene the patrols realized that ...
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Police control hundreds of cars - TODAY - The Newspaper...
GREAT BAY - The St. Maarten Police Force assisted by Police officers from the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, the Royal Marechausee, VKC and VKS continue to have general controls at different locations on the Dutch Side of the island. Over the...
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Van Putten's statements are unacceptable, Statians say - ...
ORANJESTAD - The remarks island council member Clyde van Putten made during a congress in Curacao whereby he said that Dutch soldiers would be burned and killed in the streets, have met with criticism in Statia too. "I am extremely saddened by...
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Ombudsman monitors rebuilding efforts - TODAY - The...
GREAT BAY - Transparency, fairness and accountability should be the guiding elements of the relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts," Ombudsman Dr. Nilda Arduin says. She is asking the public to file substantial complaints about relief, recovery...
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Port St. Maarten Encourages Local Businesses to...
PORT ST. MAARTEN - Port St. Maarten Management is encouraging the local business community in this post-Hurricane Irma era to attend the Caribbean's largest Cruise Conference and Trade Show, the 24th Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA),...
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Are We Ready? - Part Two - TODAY - The Newspaper for...
In most IT textbooks new topics are often introduced with case studies. As a matter of fact, when I was introduced to Business Continuity Planning it was through a case study discussing the effects of Super Storm Sandy on the northeastern coast...
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Another blistering letter to the editor wherein a resident of St. Maarten vents her frustration about how the country has been driving her crazy and how she is sick and tired of all the madness. Read what has her so upset that she figuratively rips everyone's head off in her letter.
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With the resumption of flights on Tuesday, October 10th, 2017, we are also open to take your flight bookings to and from St. Maarten via SXM Airport.
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SZV requests employers to submit post-Irma updates to...
Harbour View - SZV would like to invite all registered employers to visit the Employer Desk to report their post Irma status before Wednesday October 18th. Employers will have the opportunity to fill in the post-Irma survey that SZV is conducting ...
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We will continue to bring you reports and articles via this email newsletter. But for the latest news, updates and photo reportages keep a daily eye on
www.today.sx
or follow us on
Facebook,
where we also post community billboard notices, government announcements and urgent public notices as we receive them via our news desk.
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info@today.sx.
Thank you for your attention to our email newsletter. Your readership is very much appreciated. Remember to read the latest news online on
www.today.sx
.
Sincerely,
TODAY MANAGEMENT
TODAY MANAGEMENT N.V.
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BURGER KING IN SIMPSON BAY REOPENED FOR BUSINESS
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