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The Hague, The Netherlands:--- Incumbent Kingdom Ambassador the Hon. Mr. Jeroen Roodenburg, who was previously stationed in Baghdad, Iraq will be taking up his new post in Colombia within short, visited the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary accompanied by Mrs. Jacinda Hofland from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs..
He was received by the Cabinet’s Director, Perry Geerlings and acting Director of the Cabinet, Margie van Gijn.
Mr. Roodenburg proceeded to give a brief overview of the causes he will be championing during his four year stint in Colombia. At the same time he took inventory of the present influences the political situation in Colombia specifically has in Sint Maarten. His interest was mainly to find out what policies Sint Maarten has in place in the relationship with Colombia. Focus also being placed on the Medical sector, cultural exchanges and economic investments from Colombia to Sint Maarten and vice versa . Mr. Geerlings explained that Sint Maarten has a history of visiting tourists from Colombia in the past when mainly the well-off visited our Island and that the growth and strengthening of this market is a focus of our government. The Ambassador committed himself to be of service to the Government of Sint Maarten in order to look into a possible expansion of tourism to and from Colombia to the Dutch Caribbean, where he envisions positive results when marketed correctly.
An important area the Ambassador wishes to address is the participation of the Kingdom countries in the Caribbean in submitting to him their areas of corporation the wish to see enhanced or established with Colombia. Also to Mr. Roodenburg, Mr. Geerlings suggested to convene periodical meetings between the Kingdom Ambassadors in the region and the Three Caribbean countries of the Kingdom. Mr. Geerlings furthermore suggested to the Ambassador once in office to contact the Directorates of Foreign Relations and Kindom Relations on Sint Maarten and request them to provide him with so-called Multiannual Interdepartmental Policy papers (MIB’s) and supply these to the various posts in the region. This will surely help the various Kingdom Embassies to be more effective in their assistance to Sint Maarten in the region. This suggestion was well received by Mr. Roodenburg.
At the conclusion of the meeting the Director and all present at the meeting wished the Ambassador well in his new post and reiterated the willingness of Sint Maarten to render assistance in the gathering and dissemination of relevant information to help him representing Sint Maarten more adequately, whilst the Ambassador assured us to be visiting Sint Maarten very soon.