A “community” designates a social group whose members live together, or have common property or interests.
Community also designates a group of countries united by treaties and common law”. It is by recalling the definition of the word "community" that the president of the CCISM began a virtual press conference Thursday morning alongside her counterpart Benjamin Ortega from Sint Maarten on the impact of the covid-19 crisis on the local economy and the closing of the border. Considering "the island as a whole", such was the message that the two presidents wanted to convey. Both denounced the closure of the border. “100% of companies are affected”, assures Angèle Dormoy. “There are difficulties encountered in obtaining supplies, in going to collect one's goods, there are items that can only be found on one side. There are also employees who live on one side and work on the other, which, I remind you, is not illegal. The closure of the border poses problems for all businesses,” said the president of the CCISM, who is awaiting the results of the survey conducted among business leaders aimed at assessing the consequences of the crisis. “To justify her decision, the prefect explained to us that the health situation is more important than economic life. I agree…”, she adds. But also to insist on its role of having to defend the interests of companies by reporting the difficulties caused by the prefectural decision and to provide solutions.
For his part, Benjamin Ortega has repeated the word “unity” many times. “If unity is not always in the solution, it must be in the consultation, the discussion”, he believes. He thus wants to make it understood that the decisions which impact the economy of the territory, must be decided in common. “We are a country,” he insists. “The island's economy knows no borders. Residents and tourists alike are used to shopping, dining and running businesses on both sides of the island. It is obvious today that closing the border was not the right solution to the pandemic since it did not have the desired effects, the virus continues to circulate just as much and the island's economy is suffering,” commented the two presidents in a joint letter to local authorities. Knowing that the virus will continue to circulate, Angèle Dormoy and Benjamin Ortega “urgently request the establishment of a communication, a lasting collaboration between the two territories with a view to bringing out an efficient common operating mode, allowing a slow and lasting recovery while preserving what remains of the island's economy". They think “that a joint management of this crisis will be much more efficient than the unilateral approach of closing the border”. Finally, the CCISM also participated in a report which will be submitted on September 22 in Paris by the association of overseas CCIs, in which the territories make proposals to support the overseas economy. Angèle Dormoy will reveal her recovery plan for Saint-Martin at this time. (soualigapost.com)
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