(Oranjestad)—This week, Prime Minister Everlyn Wever-Croes met with American ambassador Mrs. Shefali Razdan Duggal who is currently visiting the island. Ambassador Duggal has been an ambassador for a few months now in The Netherlands and wanted to get to know Aruba and interchange perspectives on different topics.
One of the topics discussed involves the issue of the Venezuelan border and how to best approach this. America offered its help in this. Another topic was the general recovery on the island, tourism, economic investments and the diversification of the economy. Prime Minister Wever-Croes explained to the ambassador the various opportunities on the island to diversify the sector of energy, which is an area the US is very interested in investing in.
Furthermore, plans for the Hydrogen Valley by Minister Glenbert Croes were also elaborated on, as well as the concerning situation of asylum, immigration on the island and drug trafficking from the South American continent to the island. Aruba, The Netherlands and the US are working hard in maintaining our waters safe and will therefore be intensifying their cooperation.
Another important topic concerned human trafficking, which unfortunately is also a reality on the island. During this meeting, Mrs. Jeanette Richardson-Baar, chief of the Coordination Center on Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Aruba” (CMAA) / Mensenhandel Mensensmokkel was also present. The prime minister explained that CMAA is paying close attention on the developments of human trafficking on the island.
Jeanette Richardson-Baars (CMAA)
During the meeting, Mrs. Richardson-Baars provided the ambassador insight in all the work that CMAA does to fight human trafficking, as well as sharing some challenges that the organization faces and what can be done to improve Aruba’s position in this. According to Richardson-Baars, the ambassador suggested to pay attention in helping the Chinese and Indian communities on the island, as not much information is known about them in comparison to the Venezuelan and Colombian communities on the island.
Furthermore, Mrs. Razdan Duggal offered her help to stimulate interest in these topics in The Netherlands: “It’s always good when international government representatives pay a visit and give their support,” she stated. In conclusion, the prime ministers expressed that the meeting was fruitful and though intense, it went very well.
