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LOCAL Thursday 3 February 2022

Dutch Kingdom’s prime ministers meet with UN Secretary-General

ORANJESTAD – On January The smaller islands have Aruba is currently partici- pandemic. It is essential for months about the faced
31, 2022, the Dutch King- to deal with regional cli- pating in a “multi-dimen- small countries like Aruba, a successes and challenges
dom’s Prime Ministers and mate change the pollution sional vulnerability index” Small Island Development with the hope to help other
the Secretary-General of caused by larger countries. to find a better balance, State like Aruba, that oth- countries as well.
the UN, Mr. António Guy- This pollution causes rising not only for the GDP, which erwise will never get out of
erres, held a meeting to temperatures, hurricanes, is the tool to measure the the economic crisis. The Prime Minister of Aruba
address important issues. and more severe natural development of countries The participating islands in- stated the meeting was
The Dutch Kingdom’s prime disasters. but also provides more di- formed that the Dutch King- fruitful. The Secretary-Gen-
ministers were Prime Min- mensions of the countries’ dom will present their “Vol- eral listened to the requests
ister of Aruba Evelyn Wev- They also discussed the development. untary National Review”, a of the islands that were
er-Croes, PM of the Neth- COVID-19 pandemic and national voluntary report of most affected. Aruba, Cu-
erlands, Mark Rutte, Prime its effects on the islands. It Another important issue how each island is comply- racao, and Saint Maarten
Minister of Curacao, Gilmar affects Aruba, particularly, discussed was the liquidity ing with the “Sustainable received praise for how
Pisas, and the Prime Minis- because of its dependence support and debts needed Development Goals”. It will they handled one crisis af-
ter of Saint Maarten, Silveria on tourism and air travel. to address the problems be presented during a polit- ter another and have the
Jacobs. caused by the Covid 19 ical forum in the upcoming commitment of the UN.q

It is an annual meeting
where the leaders discuss
important and relevant
subjects for the entire
Dutch Kingdom. Some top-
ics addressed this year was
the UN’s SDG for 2030, the
tense situation on the Rus-
sian - Ukraine border, cli-
mate, and the necessity for
a joint effort to minimize the
impact on climate change
and the situation in Vene-
zuela and Covid19.

One important topic was
the ongoing situation in
Venezuela that has had
a considerable impact on
Aruba. The situation in Ven-
ezuela is putting enormous
pressure on Aruba and
Curacao as concerns im-
migration from Venezuela.
Due to its limited capac-
ity, it is a heavy burden for
Aruba,

It led to the request from
the islands for more support
in solving the humanitarian,
economic and political cri-
sis in Venezuela.

They also requested the
UN’s attention on the ef-
fects of climate change on
the islands. It is essential to
work together on planning,
and each member will
have to adapt this to their
local situation to limit the
effects of climate change
on each island.