Background SONA
With the establishment of SONA in 2004, the Netherlands and the then Netherlands Antilles (later the countries
Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the Public Bodies Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire) manage the
cooperation funds and selection and supervision of remote projects.
This has been fleshed out at the heart of the recommendations of the Wijers working group from 2002: this distance allowed the effectiveness of the cooperation could be further increased and allowed the bureaucracy and direct involvement of politics is minimized.
The Netherlands paid the cooperation funds on the basis of a management agreement with SONA. The then Netherlands Antilles (later the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the public bodies Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire) were able to submit project proposals submitted by the Implementing Organization SONA (hereinafter: USONA) assessed and whether or not they were honored.
The last deposit is due at the end of 2012 Netherlands done to SONA.
In total, the Netherlands transferred ANG 101.8 million (approx. € 51 million) to SONA, which has benefited Sint Maarten. The cooperation programs were closed at the end of 2014.