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Thank you for joining us today. I am happy to be able to speak to you in a physical press conference even though we are still monitoring the developments on COVID-19 closely in Sint Maarten and Curaçao and are taking all precautionary measures.
Today, I would like to discuss the main economic developments in 2020 but more importantly our road to economic recovery. Without doubt, the year 2020 was in many ways a historic and disruptive year. The pandemic affected everyone, but not least people in small and tourism-dependent island economies such as Sint Maarten and Curaçao. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the resilience and agility of our people and businesses have been tested again and again. This reminds me of a beautiful quote of Nelson Mandela who would have turned 102 years last week:
“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again”.