BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – On Monday July 8th Prime Minister of Sint Maarten Leona Romeo-Marlin, on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) represented by Ronald Jackson, Executive Director of CDEMA at their headquarters in Barbados.
Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin shared the following remarks, “With this MoU that we will be signing today, the Kingdom of the Netherlands aims to further embed the Dutch Royal Navy and other assets at its disposal into the regional disaster coordination mechanism, enabling them to deliver the Kingdom’s assistance even faster and more effectively to any nation in the region where necessary. Not only by means of this MoU, but also by playing an active part in the newly established Multinational Civil-Military Coordination Cell on Barbados (MNCCC-B) within CDEMA’s Regional Coordination Centre.”
The MoU ensures cooperation, coordination and mutual assistance in disaster risk management and aims to limit the impacts of climate change by strengthening the conditions necessary for sustainable regional development. The agreement will apply to the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Netherlands including the public entities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.
“I am very happy to be signing this memorandum today as a first step to building a prosperous partnership for strengthening disaster management and building resilience in the region. Additionally, I am optimistic that this first step will enable our cooperation towards Sint Maarten’s pursuit of CDEMA membership,” said Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin.
