Over the next three years, the government will make a total of 5 million euros available to invest in the library network on Bonaire, St Eustatius, and Saba. State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media) announced this after the Council of Ministers.

The contribution is part of the tens of millions that the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science structurally allocates to provide every municipality in the Netherlands with a future-oriented library facility. Uslu: “If you’re a member of the public library, you have a subscription to the whole world. Because reading is fundamental, and a library brings you much more than that. It is a place where people awaken and grow culturally and socially. Where worlds open up for you as a child. Where you as a parent send your child with peace of mind. A place where knowledge, stories, and other perspectives are within reach for everyone. That is why I am investing a large part of the extra culture budget in the public library.”

For the restoration of monuments in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, 10 million euros will be made available. “The Caribbean Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom In the implementation of my cultural policy, I have an eye for the Caribbean Netherlands across the board: Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba,” writes State Secretary Gunay Uslu in her Multi-Year Letter on Culture, published today. “It is important that there are facilities such as libraries and archives in the Caribbean Netherlands, that children can get acquainted with culture at school and that young and old can experience and practice culture. I pay special attention to the heritage that contributes to the dialogue about our common and sometimes fraught history. That is why I make money available for libraries and heritage in the Caribbean Netherlands.”