LEIDEN--The bearing surface for the Dutch Kingdom erodes by the minute and that is why it is necessary to invest in creating and acknowledging the added value of cooperation and mutual benefits, according to Aruba Prime Minister Mike Eman.
Eman was guest speaker at Tuesday's gathering of the Antillean Network Association VAN. More than 150 persons attended the event at Scheltema in Leiden, described by VAN Chairwoman Maite de Haseth as a 'historic gathering.'
"We have to look for mutual end goals, together give content to the meaning of a Kingdom. If we don't do that, the relations will rapidly deteriorate. The bearing surface is eroding by the minute, not only in The Netherlands but also elsewhere in the Kingdom," said Eman.
"We have to get to work, and quickly, to convince everyone of the added value that the Kingdom has," he said. In this process we should refrain from making degrading remarks about each other which unfortunately happens too often.
Partners should also be careful not to stigmatise the entire population of an island just because their government doesn't stick to agreements, said Eman, obviously referring to the situation in Curaçao and last Friday's instruction of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to the Schotte cabinet which has to get its 2012 budget in order.
Eman reminded the audience at the VAN meeting that Curaçao and St. Maarten only attained their status as autonomous country in the Kingdom less than two years ago and that they, as well as Aruba which became a country 25 years ago, were still in the process of building up their country. He relayed a similar message to the Kingdom Council of Ministers last Friday.
According to the Prime Minister, it was important for all partners to stick to the agreed upon benchmarks such as good governance and sound finances. "We cannot use terms like colonialism if we don't stick to the benchmarks that we agreed on." He said he admired St. Maarten for doing its utmost to stick to the benchmarks.
Eman lamented the poor functioning of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten CBCS "as a result of a common fight." He hinted that Curaçao and St. Maarten were fortunate that they had the backing of the Dutch Government in the emission of bonds whereby The Hague automatically subscribes to bonds if there are no other interested parties. Aruba doesn't have that backing and on top of that is evaluated twice per year by the international Standard and Poor's rating bureau.
In the process of attaining more autonomy Aruba chose twice to stay in the Kingdom and it surely didn't do so for the money of The Netherlands, said Eman. "We had to pay every penny of our debt back, with interest."
Eman said that because it was part of the Kingdom, Aruba could count on a solid legal system, the protection of Dutch defence and the support of Foreign Relations. He said these factors were important for investors. "Investors don't come to an island that doesn't have a secure legal system."
Aruba has been working hard on establishing better relations with its Kingdom partners and has already created strategic alliances with Dutch companies and institutes like Schiphol Airport, the well known independent research centre TNO, the gas company GasUnie and the Rietveld Academy. Aruba cannot establish solid relations by itself: it has to do this together with the other partners in the Kingdom, said Eman.
Sustainability and high quality are Aruba's mottos, explained Eman who gave a historic overview of Aruba's development from a quaint, sleepy island to a buzzing tourist destination with 8,000 hotel rooms, 2 million passengers per year, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $2.9 billion in 2011 and growing economy.
But because the economic prosperity of an island is not only measured by more hotel rooms and visitors, the Eman cabinet in 2009 decided to invest in neighbourhoods, infrastructure, schools and other facilities that will improve the social cohesion. "We do not only want five star hotels, but also five star schools and neighbourhoods." He said that in the past Aruba was not very successful in transferring the wealth that tourism brought to the people.
Also present at Tuesday's VAN event was Chief Operations Officer Peter Boyd of the Carbon War Room (CWR), an organisation to promote sustainability founded by Sir Richard Branson. Aruba and CWR signed an agreement at the United Nations (UN) top in Brazil in June to make the island completely sustainable by 2020.
Boyd gave a short introduction on the objectives of CWR and its partnership with 'smart island' Aruba. He said it would be quite a challenge to turn around an entire economy to a low carbon economy. "To create that pivot effect, you need the will and skill. We need pioneers to do that and Aruba is just that," he said.
Aruba generates 20 per cent of its electricity need from wind energy and with a second windmill park under construction and the installation of solar energy roofs on the parking of the Reina Beatrix Airport. That percentage will increase to 50 per cent in 2013, making Aruba the 'greenest' island in the world.
According to Boyd, there are opportunities for islands to turn into smart, sustainable economies. Encouraging the audience to support low carbon economies, he reminded them that "There is no planet B."
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