De Miranda takes over the presidency of the tripartite consultation from Schalkevik

September saw the installation of a special tripartite consultation with representatives of employee organizations, employers’ organizations and the government.

Then the government appointed Professor Dr. Martin Schalkwyk, Secretary of the Tripartite Consultation in 1994, was asked to preside over the new Consultation. Willem de Miranda was appointed secretary, who in 1986 was involved in an earlier attempt to come to a social agreement.

President Santoji announced last week that Professor Schalkwyk was handing over the presidency of the tripartite consultation to Mr. William de Miranda. The Prime Minister noted that Schalkwyk’s strengths and experience will be deployed elsewhere for the benefit of the country and the people.

Professor Schalkwyk has complete confidence in de Miranda. “He has broad support and is able to lead the consultations and achieve a good result for the first evaluation moment in March 2022,” Schalkwijk said.

De Miranda, who until recently was the official secretary of the commission, was involved from the start in working out a social agreement. He is convinced that he can provide good leadership to the advisory body for the recovery of the economy of Suriname.

During the special tripartite consultation session in the President’s Cabinet on December 23, 2021, the Head of State emphasized the importance of the comprehensive initiation and implementation of the IMF program. In addition to the team of the Group of Ministers appointed to coordinate the Tripartite Agreement, it is supported by the advisory bodies, viz.; Representatives of the business community, the private sector and the trade union movement.

A critical aspect of the support is the implementation of IMF conditions so that the country’s leadership can direct them for periodic review. The president urged the bloc’s team to pay close attention to policy areas, such as the recovery plan, the rigorous IMF program and national risk assessment.

We should have achieved the goals before the first evaluation moment in March of next year. We cannot afford not to tidy up the policy areas, because that would have disastrous consequences for the IMF agreement. And the prime minister warned that one of the consequences of not completing the first moment of assessment is that we can be excluded and that the agreement will expire.