 Your Excellency, Your Excellency, it's an honor to present my letters of credence to you today. His Majesty King Willem Alexander has asked me to send his personal greetings to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. His Majesty King Willem Alexander would also like to send his warm greetings to St. Lucia and to its people. Your Excellency, please allow me to bring up the following. Originally, the presentation was scheduled much earlier, but because of the pandemic, Trinidad-Tobago closed its borders from March 2020 till July 2021, and in that time it was not possible to travel to St. Lucia. I'm happy that our new honorary consul, Mr. Rory McNamara, who started at the end of 2021, is with us today. His predecessor, Mr. Peter de Vaux, and his father were in total more than 80 years honorary consul of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in St. Lucia, so an era has come to an end. The bilateral ties between our countries have been vivid since the independence of St. Lucia in 1979. I'm looking forward to working with you to strengthen the relationship between our two countries. As you might know, I was able to visit St. Lucia informally on the 29th of November last year, only one day, but on that day I visited Castries and the Dutch-owned Beer Brewery in the South, where I got an impressive overview of their activities. There are good possibilities for our two countries to collaborate, for instance connected to water and waste management, eco-tourism and sustainable agriculture. Water management is in our veins since the 13th century, when on St. Lucia Day in 1287 a huge flood changed the geographic landscape of the Netherlands forever. A great part of the Netherlands is below sea level and we learned how to cooperate to protect ourselves against the sea. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is ready to share this know-how with St. Lucia, and I can provide you with names of companies in this field. The Netherlands is at a distance of more than 7,000 km and still Dutch tourists and sailors find St. Lucia very attractive to visit. Not so far away there is ample interaction between the six Kingdom Islands in the Caribbean region and your country. Like St. Lucia there are Sitz, Curacao, Aruba, St. Martin, Bonaire, Statia and Saba. They would like to get in touch to exchange experiences and best practices on climate change and the influence on the global pandemic, on the economy and especially also on tourism. Curacao hopes to extend collaboration in the future on a number of other areas as well, for instance renewable energy. Though the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, the world is now shocked by the war in Ukraine. The Kingdom of the Netherlands and St. Lucia, in effect all of the Caricom countries stood side by side supporting the UN General Assembly, resolutions condemning the Russian invasion in Ukraine. And the effects of this war are to be felt and are noticeable in the Caribbean. The Kingdom of the Netherlands appreciates the regional security system, contribution to strengthening security cooperation in the region. As neighbors, the Netherlands Navy command in Curacao seeks to expand their partnership with RSS and we look forward to interact with your government. Concerning security, the Kingdom of the Netherlands supports strong cooperation to combat cross-border criminality. The Treaty of St. José that aims to enhance regional maritime security cooperation and high drugs is important to us. And I was happy to learn that St. Lucia and other Caricom countries are planning to sign and ratify this treaty this year. The Kingdom of the Netherlands signed the MOU with SDIMA in 2019, ensuring cooperation in disaster risk management. With this MOU, we embedded the Dutch Navy into regional disaster mechanisms, enabling also to assist quickly and effectively in the region. Your Excellency, the Kingdom of the Netherlands will continue to collaborate with St. Lucia on issues of mutual concern, be it bilateral, be it multilateral. I am looking forward to further strengthening our mutual, long-standing relationship. Thank you very much. Your Excellency, it is with great pleasure that I accept from you the letters of credence by which His Majesty King William Alexander credits you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Pliny Potentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to St. Lucia. These will be laid before Her Majesty in due course, along with His Majesty's well wishes, which we have so eloquently expressed on His behalf. Your Excellency, since establishing diplomatic relations in 1980, St. Lucia and the Netherlands have had cordial relations. And share a special bond of friendship, as with other European unions or members. This friendship is somewhat heightened by your national presence and our hemisphere through association with your six constituent countries of Aruba, Bonaire, Kyrissau, Sabre, St. Justatius and Martin, all sister islands of the Caribbean Sea. We are pleased to acknowledge your country's support and strong cooperation to combat across border criminality in these waters to the extent of calling on the Royal Dutch Navy if required. In 2019, the Kingdom of the Netherlands also signed an MOU with Siedema to cooperate in disaster risk management, which again allows your Navy to be part in this regional disaster mechanisms. St. Lucia, as a small island development state, without inexhaustible resources, welcomes such interventions as we always place strong reliance on friendly countries to assist us in neutralizing the dangers lurking on the high seas, which can manifest as threats to our sovereignty. Your Excellency, permit me to extend the heartfelt sympathies of the government and people of St. Lucia to your government and families in your country who have experienced a loss of loved ones due to the pandemic. The last two years have seen our economy shrink with rising unemployment and poverty. However, as we are consoled by the fact that even the darkest night must turn to day and that our countries will emerge from the dark period with greater resilience than before. The unfortunate events in Ukraine have brought our two countries together, along with Karakam and the European Union, in support of the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the Russian invasion of that country. Although far away from the arena of war, we are feeling the effects on our economy in higher freight charges, food costs, and the price of oil. This coupled with the COVID-19 experience cannot augur well for the quick economic recovery. Our survival in the international arena must be based on sound bilateral, multi-natural cooperation through treaties within friendly nations of which the EPA is ongoing between Karakam member states and the European Union. However, every forward stride we have attempted, we are held in check with one form of differentiation or rather, that prevents us from enjoying the tangible benefits promised at the point of signing. Any gains we were hoping to achieve for our countries in improving human development is thought when income per capita is used as a measure of comparative analysis. There seems to be no consideration to our inherent vulnerability to exogenous shocks that often destroy the total GDP taking years to rebuild. Your Excellency in the spirit of peace and concord. It is the desire of the government and people of St. Lucia to maintain strong trading links with your country. As you are aware, one of the most drastic dangers we face is climate change and noting your country's challenges as early as 1287 with floods. We as a young nation can benefit from your long experience in the field. We support your view that our two countries may find common ground in cooperation in areas of water and waste management, ecotourism and sustainable agriculture. Our economy is diverse over three broad sector services of which the lead is tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. To maintain stability in each sector, it is essential for us to court direct foreign investment. To this end, we are proud to have you as an ally as we continue to work as seriously to move our people forward along the road of progress and development. I therefore wish your Excellency a rewarding tour of duty among us and please convey my very best wishes to His Majesty and the government of the Netherlands. Best wishes for peace and continued prosperity from the government and people of St. Lucia. Thank you.