THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
Is it a mysterious place?
The Netherlands Antilles form part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The other members of the Kingdom are Aruba and the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles in turn consist of five islands: Bonaire and Curacao (together with Aruba constituting the so-called ABC Islands, or Leeward Antilles, located in the South western Caribbean, near Venezuela). Curacao is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles; and Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten (together constituting the three S’s, or Windward Islands, located in the North eastern Caribbean, near Puerto Rico). St. Maarten consists of a Dutch and a French part, the latter of which does not form part of the Netherlands Antilles.
Apart from certain affairs that are considered to be ‘Kingdom’ affairs (e.g. defense and foreign affairs), the Netherlands Antilles have full autonomy. The Netherlands Antilles is a so-called associate member of the European Community. The purpose of such association is to promote the economic and social development of the Netherlands Antilles and to establish close economic relations between them and the European Community as a whole.
The system of government of the Netherlands Antilles is a parliamentary democracy based on the Dutch model. Free elections are held every four years. Education and social security systems are also based on those of the Netherlands. Standard of living is rather high compared to the area. Dutch is the official language. English and Spanish are widely spoken, in addition to the local language Papiamento. The Netherlands Antilles guilder is pegged to the United States dollar at 1.78:1.
International financial services form an important pillar of the economy of the Netherlands Antilles. Other important sources of income include tourism, oil refining and shipping. The financial sector is supported by a number of international banks offering a wide scale of services. All of the larger international audit firms are represented in the Netherlands Antilles. And there are excellent lawyers and tax advisers too.
I suggest that everyone, right now, get a map and find the Netherlands Antilles.
Karel Frielink
Attorney (lawyer) / Partner
