St. Eustatius excluded from talks between Saba and VWS about Medical Referrals

ORANJESTAD- While a meeting between Saba and Deputy Secretary General  Abigail Norville from VWS last week took place at the Golden Rock Resort in St. Eustatius, the Public Entity St. Eustatius was not invited to be part of conversations held on the issue of medical referrals. 

Saba had recently sent off a complaint letter about the matter surrounding the, among others, the medical referrals from ZJCN. Subsequently, a meeting was scheduled between Norville and representatives of Saba’s government, making use of the fact that a large delegation from Saba was present on St. Eustatius for the Statia day celebrations. 

As St. Eustatius has voiced similar -if not identical- complaints, it is peculiar that St. Eustatius was not involved in the talks between Saba and Norville. 

The news of the meeting was also reason for surprise among Island Council members in St. Eustatius, who could only guess why they would not be invited for the meeting, while this was held on their island. 

Positive

A press statement sent out by RCN Communication department on Monday cited ‘productive talks’ between Saba and Norville but did not mention any reason for limiting the talks to bilateral converations with Saba, rather than having a trilateral including St. Eustatius.