Staatssecretaris De Vries - Welcome to the website of the State Secretary for Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations.

Together with Prime Minister Pourier and the Minister for National Recovery and Economic Affairs, Suzanne Camelia-Römer, I took the initiative in May 2001 of making available a large number of instruments in order to promote the private sector in the Netherlands Antilles. Today sees yet another important new instrument become available: from now on Antillean companies can gain access to Dutch export credit insurance.

07/03/2002

The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom has decided to recommend mr. F.M. de los Santos Goedgedrag to the Queen for appointment to Governor of the Netherlands Antilles. The appointment is to take effect from 1 July 2002.

Mrs. mr. A.P. van der Pluijm-Vrede is recommended as deputy governor. There will be consultation on the commencement date.

25/01/2002

The State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Gijs de Vries, is to make available ANG 112 million (NLG 153 million) per year in the coming years to help fund sustainable economic development, administrative development and education in the Netherlands Antilles. Medium-term cooperation programmes covering the period up to and including 2006 have been agreed in these three areas between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles. Within this budget of ANG 112 million, the Antillean government will be able to put forward its own proposals for activities in these areas. Much of the budget for 2002 is in fact already being spent on current projects.

12/12/2001

The go-ahead has been given for a trial in a problem neighbourhood in Willemstad, capital of Curaçao, aimed at addressing the problems on the basis of an integral approach such as that used in major cities in the Netherlands. This will open the way to cooperation with a number of Dutch cities with a relatively large Antillean population, and will enable knowledge and experience gained from the Dutch policy on the major cities to be used in Curaçao. The policy prescribes an integral approach which involves addressing social, physical and economic problems together.

12/12/2001

The Netherlands is to make available up to ANG 3 million (approx. NLG 4 million) to fund the rest of the Urgent Youth Action Programme in the Netherlands Antilles. This has been agreed by the Dutch Minister for Urban Policy and Integration of Ethnic Minorities, Roger van Boxtel, the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Gijs de Vries, and the Antillean Minister for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Stanley Lamp. The money will be used to finance projects on the islands of St Maarten, St Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire.

12/12/2001

Dutch policy continues to aim at supporting the development of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. For this reason the Netherlands supports the Netherlands Antilles in implementing financial, economic and political reforms.

18/09/2001

Borders between EU countries are no longer marked by red and white barriers. We no longer even notice when weve crossed one. But these internal borders havent disappeared. Citizens, businesses and government authorities in border areas still face the legal, political and psychological ramifications of living where they do.

Transfrontier cooperation deserves to be high on the political agenda. It will benefit from the attention and support of both national governments and local and regional authorities. The Committee of the Regions can take the lead: by taking the initiative or giving advice, either on request or not; by working more closely with the European Parliament; and by representing the interests of local and regional authorities.

13/09/2001

Changes in the division of responsibilities between the national government of the Netherlands Antilles and the island governments of Curaçao, Bonaire, St Maarten, St Eustatius and Saba could still be set in motion this year. Proposals by the Antillean Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs Rafaël, provide a good basis for doing so. There is a clear case to give priority to proposals for the further devolution of tax powers and for greater autonomy for the islands in the financial and economic field as these provide opportunities for increasing the responsibilities of the island governments.

07/09/2001

To ensure sound policies on language at national, provincial or regional level, it is important that government should at all times have due regard to the consequences of its policy intentions for the use of the Dutch or Frisian languages. This will simplify compliance with those provisions of the European Charter which the Netherlands has accepted. In this covenant you will find the formal arrangements that have therefore been agreed.

03/07/2001

I hope that this conference will provide a good opportunity to compare the experiences which we mother countries have had with the overseas territories and to invite critical comment from experts. Sharing know-how and learning from each other's experiences will help ensure more effective use of the resources we mother countries allocate to our overseas territories. At the same time, the conference will provide an opportunity to identify suitable areas for coordinated action, such as trade promotion, action to combat drug-related crime or moves to guarantee good governance.

20/06/2001

The Netherlands and Aruba have reached agreement on a multiyear investment programme aimed at improving preventive health care in Aruba. Thirteen and a half million Dutch guilders (more than nine million Aruban guilders) will be channelled into the programme over a period of five years, from 2001 to 2005. The money will be spent on building and equipping Centro Dakota, a medical centre for drug addicts, expanding the general hospitals psychiatric unit, conducting health awareness campaigns, screening and prevention programmes and developing home care facilities for diabetics.

12/06/2001

On the recommendation of Gijs de Vries, State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has agreed to nominate four candidates for appointment to the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

01/06/2001

The Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles have agreed to work together on a multiyear sustainable economic development programme for the Netherlands Antilles. With the term "sustainable" the two governments indicate that their aim is to promote the long-term structural growth of the Antillean economy without burdening the environment. Anyone planning new business activities will have to take account of their impact on the environment. For example, a diving centre should not lead to problems for ocean wildlife. And while tourists are welcome in nature areas, mass tourism will be discouraged.

30/05/2001

The Antilles have made a great deal of progress with their recovery policy. The tide is beginning to turn. A great many things have changed for the better in the last eighteen months. The important thing now is to persevere, and not to start marking time yet again halfway through the process. The government coalition agreement has not yet been implemented, and the Cabinet still has a year to go before the elections in 2002. That also applies for the Netherlands. It is a year during which our two countries can together lay the foundations for more employment, better education, less emigration and more return migration. It is a year in which courage and perseverance will continue to be needed. Many people in the Antilles, political leaders included, have what it takes to achieve this.

28/05/2001

The government has agreed to the proposal by Roger van Boxtel (Minister for Urban Policy and Integration of Ethnic Minorities) and Gijs de Vries (State Secretary for Kingdom Relations) to withhold part of its financial contribution to the Netherlands Antilles. The sum involved is 26 million guilders. The reason for the decision is the Netherlands Antilles' failure to keep to the agreements made on 13 December 2000.

06/04/2001

How should local government operate in the EU member states in order to promote good and democratic governance? When we ask questions of this kind about the future, it is often illuminating to think about how things worked in the past.

29/03/2001

The Enschede report The final report from the Committee Investigation Firework Disaster Enschede contains three parts, which are a summary of three investigative reports. The final report includes this final consideration, in which the Committee focuses on some general themes. It concerns topics which drew the Committees special attention in the analysis of the investigative material, especially in the areas in which certain dilemmas or bottlenecks arose.

28/02/2001

The cabinet wants to introduce C2000, the new digital mobile radio communication system for the police, fire brigade, ambulances and the national mounted constabulary throughout the Netherlands as early as January 2004. That is half a year earlier than planned.

21/02/2001