THE HAGUE – State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Alexandra van Huffelen today spoke to the French Minister for Overseas Territories Jean-François Carenco about the Franco-Dutch cooperation in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
The State Secretary speaks of a “pleasant conversation” in which it was agreed to “continue the good Franco-Dutch cooperation in the Caribbean region.” Whether the border dispute at Oyster Pond on Sint Maarten/Saint Martin was also discussed during the interview has not been reported. In October, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra announced that he wanted four-party talks in February to settle the dispute.
In 1648, France and the Netherlands established the division of Sint Maarten in a treaty. For a century and a half, there has been a dispute over the exact border. In 1817 the division was formalized, after which peace returned.
Until 2016 when the gendarmerie raided a restaurant at Oyster Pond because it was being renovated without a (French) permit. The government of Sint Maarten denied that it concerned French territory. For a moment the situation threatened to escalate. ‘The Hague’ performed soothingly. Under pressure from the House of Representatives, the government decided to make an attempt to resolve the border dispute definitively, but it has so far failed to gain a foothold in Paris.
