SABA—The Island Council will be visiting Bonaire from Tuesday, September 3 to Saturday, September 7. Bonaire’s national holiday, Bonaire Day on Friday, September 6 is the main reason for the visit, but the Saba delegation will also have a number of meetings and pay some working visits. The five-member delegation, consisting of Island Council Members Eviton Heyliger, Vito Charles, Carl Buncamper and Esmeralda Johnson, and Registrar Akilah Levenstone, will travel to Bonaire on Tuesday. Councilman Hemmie van Xanten is unable to join the delegation for health reasons.

While on Bonaire, the delegation will have a meeting at the Health Insurance Office ZVK on Wednesday to follow up on a meeting that the Island Council Members had with ZVK Director Angel Bermudez in May this year to discuss a number of health insurance issues that are important for Saba and its people. On Wednesday, the Saba delegation will have a meeting at the Registrar Office of the Bonaire Island Council to discuss various logistical and operational topics as to the functioning of the Island Council. On that same day, the delegation will visit the new prison which serves as the penitentiary facility for all three Caribbean Netherlands’ islands. On Thursday, the delegation will meet with an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK) to talk about the TOP Program, a training program for civil servants which has been implemented on Bonaire. The delegation will further meet with officials of the Tourism Corporation Bonaire to talk about how Bonaire handles tourism and tourism related aspects.

On Thursday after, the delegation meets with the Director of the Tax Office and Customs to discuss the ban on single-use plastics that Saba is introducing January 2020 and a tax reduction incentive for more environmentally friendly products. On that same afternoon, a meeting has been scheduled with the Department of Education at the to talk about a number of current issues, including medical insurance for Saba students studying in the United States (US) and the Caribbean.

On Friday, the delegation will attend the official ceremony of Bonaire Day and returns to Saba on Saturday.