Saint. Maarten, Vital Statistics and Facts, the country at Glance

Geography
Located in the Caribbean Sea, St. Maarten covers 37 square miles, 18 latitude and 63 longitude, 150 miles southeast of Puerto Rico.

Dutch St.Maarten is on the island’s southern side and accounts for almost half of the territory, 16 square miles to be exact. Its capital is Philipsburg on GreatBay. The remainder comprises French St. Martin which is located on the north. Like its Caribbean neighbors, it has a tropical climate that averages about 79-81 degrees Fahrenheit year round. It is the smallest inhabited island divided between two nations, the Netherlands and France.

Government
Currently a member of the Federation of the Netherlands Antilles, St. Maarten is due to become an autonomous territory on December 15th. That’s when it assumes greater control of  itsessential services such as health, education, welfare and other matters. The government would also have more responsible for raising funds through taxes to finance its operations. The change will be a major step forward in the country’s history, putting it on the same constitutional level as Aruba and Curacao. The government is headed by Sarah Westcott Williams, the longest serving woman head of government in the Caribbean.

Economy
The linchpin, the backbone of the country’s economy is tourism, with more than 90 per cent of all economic activity built around the hospitality sector. This largely mid-market, volume destination draws most of its visitors from North America and Europe. It is a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. A popular cruise ship destination, St. Maarten is also serviced by major airlines flying in and out of the United States, the Netherlands, France, and other parts of Europe and North America. It has daily connections to the Caribbean. Other key sectors of the economy are construction, retail and wholesale trades, banking, offshore business and utilities. It is the Caribbean’s major duty free port and it offers some of the best shopping in the English, French and Dutch-speaking areas of the Caribbean.

Trade and Investment
Because of its constitutional relationship with the Netherlands, St. Maarten is an overseas territory of the European Union. That gives it preferential access to the EU and the economic privileges that flow from that arrangement. Firms established there have profitable entry into the EUs large market. Its strongest commercial links are with the Netherlands and the United States. A vital incentive is freedom from property and company taxes related to business premises. Investment opportunities are in tourism, telecommunications, restaurant equipment, manufactured goods, electronics and clothing.

Telecommunications
A state of the art telecommunications network system with local and international switching keeps the island linked to the rest of the world. The St. Marteen Telephone Group of Companies, Smitcom, includes Telem and TelCell. The mobile operator Telcell has more than 30,000 subscribers and accounts for 51% of the mobile market.

Languages
Although it is officially and traditionally a Dutch-speaking country, English is spoken by almost every resident of St. Maarten. In addition, one can hear Spanish and Papiamento, the dialect of the Netherlands Antilles. Creole Patois is also spoken. Walk along its streets or in the departure areas of PrincessJulianaInternationalAirport, not to mention its harbor, you can overhear conversations in Hindi, Chinese or Italian.

Airlines
With a modern airport capable of handling the largest commercial and cargo aircraft, St. Maarten caters to almost 2 million passengers every year. Interestingly, PrincessJulianaInternationalAirport has the capacity for 2.5 million airline passengers. United, Spirit, Jet Blue, KLM and Air France are among the carriers serving the island.

Shopping: As an entirely free trade zone that doesn’t impose customs duties on imports and exports on either wide of the island, St. Maarten is both a tourism and shopping paradise. Everything from Swiss watches, French perfumes, Chinese embroidery and Japanese cameras to Indonesian Batiks, Italian leather goods and British cashmeres are readily available.

Casinos
The island has a dozen casinos, all on the Dutch side. They offer European style gaming, sophisticated and subdued.

Currency
Netherlands Antilles Florin is the official currency but US dollars are used everywhere.

Transportation
An extensive network of well-paved roads provides easy access to all points in the country. The road system enables motorists to travel across the French and Dutch sides with ease.

Media
Daily newspapers both local and foreign meaning European and North America, plus radio and televisions stations are at the center of a vibrant media sector.

History
Archaeologists and historians explain that the earliest inhabitants of St. Maarten were Indians around 4000 BC. In 800 A.D. Arawaks arrived and established villages, cultivated crops and built boats. When Christopher Columbus landed on November 15, 1493, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, he named the island St. Martin. At different times in its history, St. Maarten was occupied by the Spanish, French, English and the Dutch. Between 1816 French and Dutch resumed their separate zones and in 1919 St. Martin was united as NetherlandsWindwardIsland along with Saba and, St. Eustatius.

Culture
Known worldwide for its festive cultural characteristics, St. Maarten, like almost every Caribbean island,  has a popular carnival festival expressed through song, dance, costume bands and jump up. For more than two weeks in April, revelry takes over the country.

Population
41,000 persons

Capital
Philipsburg

 New YorkState’s Chief Executive, Governor David Patterson, is scheduled to address the annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference in St. Maarten.

Governor Patterson whose family’s roots are in the Caribbean –Grenada and Jamaica –is expected to speak on the economic and social links between New York and the various Caribbean countries. New York is home to the largest single West Indian immigrant community in North America.

“We are delighted that the Governor has accepted our invitation and that of the government of St. Maarten to address the more than 200 participant s in this year’s conference,” said Karl Rodney, publisher of the New York Carib News. “Governor Patterson, a public official with an outstanding track record of distinguished public service will be attending the conference for the first time and we consider it an honor to have him present.”

Two current Caribbean leaders, Dr. Desmond Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts-Nevis, and Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and P.J. Patterson, who led Jamaica longer than any other head of government in the nation’s history is also scheduled to attend. They will be joined by Dame Billie Miller, until recently Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and one of the Caribbean’s top policy makers on international trade for more than a dozen years.

Dr. Douglas is to speak on “a health and economic strategy for the Caribbean,” while Dr. Gonsalves is expected to focus attention on the importance of “Caribbean economic integration” at a time of global financial turbulence. The former Jamaica Prime Minister is to deal with the challenges facing the island-nations, coastal states and territories of the region and their “strategy for change.”

The conference is to be officially opened by Sarah Wescot-Williams, leader of the government of St. Maarten.

A Prime Focus on Women at Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference, St. Maarten Session to address triumphs and Roadblocks
Tony Best

St. Maarten, a Dutch and English-speaking country with a woman as its head of government, is to be the venue of a soul-searching and in-depth assessment of the triumphs and challenges facing women seeking to ascend to pinnacle of economic and political leadership.

The leadership positions are the middle and upper levels of the corporate world and government, and the discussion is to take place at the annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference to be held in St. Maarten between November 6-9

Women entrepreneurs and executives in the private sector and those who are making a name for themselves and their presence felt as key decision-makers in government and civil society will be the prime focus of a session whose theme will be “Women of Influence” in today’s world.

“Women now lead some of the major corporations and key social services agencies in the U.S., the Caribbean and elsewhere around the world and it seems but natural for us to address the issue,” said Faye Rodney, President of the New York Carib News and a driving force behind the annual conference which is expected to attract more than 350 participants from the U.S. and the Caribbean.

“In the past decade we have seen more and more women move into positions of leadership and influence in t he private and public sectors and we are going to hear from some of them during the conference,” added Rodney, a founder of the Carib News. “In the Caribbean, we have two women, Sarah Wescott Williams, leader of the government of St. Maarten guiding the affairs of one of the Caribbean’s most successful countries and Michele Pierre-Louis as Haiti’s new Prime Minister. Until last year, the head of government of Jamaica was also female. St. Maarten is about to embark on a new constitutional path around the time of the conference and it’s important that Wescott-Williams shares her experience with us.

Several women who sit in the U.S. House of Representatives are scheduled to speak about their successes and challenges as elected officials and policy makers who help to write legislation that set the nation’s economic and social agenda.

In addition, corporate executives who have broken the once impenetrable glass ceiling that prevented tens of millions women from assuming decision-making positions around the world are also scheduled to speak.

Among them will be Wescott Williams, U.S. Representatives Maxine Waters of California, Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas and Barbara Lee of California; Marilyn Johnson, IBM’s Vice President of Development; Brenda Scott, Director of Minority Community Affairs at Macy’s Department Store; and the Rev. Dr. Susan Johnson-Coo k, Senior Pastor of the ChristianfellowshipChurch in the Bronx.

“As the leader of the government of St. Maarten I certainly welcome the opportunity to talk about what we have been able to achieve as a government and how as a woman I have succeeded in working with my colleagues to push ahead the country’s economic, social and constitutional development,” said Westcott Williams. “The barriers that once stood in the path of women seeking to make their contribution to government and private industry are crumbling but some still remain. It essential that we speak about the opportunities for public service, the successes of women and the roadblocks and challenges we face, not to mention our successes. This discussion should to help illuminate the path for women and for us to link arms with men in a common effort that benefits, not simply women but society as a whole.”

The 13th annual business conference is returning to the Dutch-side of the island, the world’s smallest landmass whose political and economic systems are linked to two European powers, the Netherlands and France. The conference was held there in 2002.

When the sessions begin, St. Maarten will be one of only three Caribbean destinations and economic centers to host the elaborate and highly successful meeting on two separate occasions. The others which twice welcomed the meeting are Jamaica and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Incidentally, it is to take place a month before the Dutch-side becomes an autonomous territory within the Netherlands, attaining the same status as Aruba and Curacao.

“The conference and the change of status are two significant milestones for us,” said Wescott-Williams. “The two couldn’t have come at a better time for us.”