Philipsburg- Leader of Government Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams, says that all the efforts of Governments and Central Banks in the USA, Europe and Asia to halt the global financial crisis for the past's weeks has not done much to increase investor confidence.
This was very much evident last week Friday when stock markets across the globe declined amid fears of a sustained global recession.
Government representatives from Sector Economy & Tourism met with the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Monday in light of the on-going global financial crisis.
"Government is very concerned as we continue to monitor the global developments regarding the financial crisis. The only thing seemingly to stop the slide in the stock markets and to bring back investor confidence is an effective and comprehensive undertaking of reform of the international monetary and financial systems.
"This has also been concluded at a recent summit in Beijing, China that brought together leaders from 43 countries in the formal setting of the Asia Europe Meeting (Asem). The global summit to take place in Washington on November 15 will bring together the 20 largest economies. At this summit leaders will seek agreement on principles of reform of the world's financial regulatory systems.
"This of course will take time, but the message that comes out of that summit I hope will lead to a return in stability in the stock markets," Leader of Government Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams (GIS).
With respect to the stakeholder meeting that took place on Monday, Commissioner Wescot pointed out that it was a meeting based on partnership as the way forward in dealing with the fallout of the global financial crisis on the island tourism oriented economy.
"Even though our own financial system is not being directly impacted, there is however an indirect impact on our tourism economy and this is the challenge that we have to deal with in the coming months. This is the challenge where we need to work in partnership with all stakeholders concerned in order to mitigate the consequences.
"I am confident that we will overcome this challenge as we are a resilient nation whose people have overcome other challenges in the pasts," Wescot-Williams assured.