21 november 2006: Opening speech of H.E. the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles for the first plenary meeting of the CITRA,

Distinguished Participants in the CITRA conference, Ladies and Gentlemen,

What would a human being be without memory? He would not know the past and would therefore actually not exist. At any rate, he would be no more than a bag with lukewarm water, some proteins and a heap of bones. For it is precisely the past, our history, that makes us aware of who we are. This is – in a certain sense - likewise the case with the national archives on the national level. They contain the collective memory of the nation, of the people or, to state it better, of society. And with that, they also see to it that a society comes alive. Knowledge of history makes us become aware of our origin and of who we are. Knowledge of history leads, in a certain sense, to an enrichment of the human mind and will therefore make us better equipped for the challenges of today. It is, consequently, very important that we have access to the sources of our history in order to amass knowledge regarding it. Opening up information, promoting accessibility to information and transparency are key concepts here.

Access to information is essential in a democratic society. National archives play an important part in this matter; not only domestically, but also in the international context, since many of the sources of our history -and this certainly goes for the multicultural and multiethnic Caribbean societies- must be sought across the border.

This brings me to the theme of the conference: “Share memories through globalization”. Through cooperation between the various national organizations in the field of, among other things, source acquisition, preservation, technological developments and historiography, sources can become available that are important for the history of several countries and nations. I sincerely hope that this conference will contribute to this cooperation and will lead to the common historical heritage becoming more available across borders.

I am very pleased to be able to welcome you to the International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) 2006 here in Curaçao. The Netherlands Antilles is proud to be your host. I am very much impressed by the overwhelming interest for this conference. You have come from all the corners of the world to our island “to share memories through globalization”. It does me good that in the coming days you will be tackling such an important theme, namely our shared past. I wish you all a successful and productive week and hereby declare this Citra Conference 2006 open.