PHOTO CUTLINE: Delegations from Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten, Willemstad, Curacao.
A delegation from the Parliament of Sint Maarten headed by President of Parliament Hon. Rodolphe Samuel, Chairman of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Interparliamentary Relations Member of Parliament Hon. Roy Marlin, and Secretary General Jossy Semeleer, forming the presidium of the Interparliamentary Kingdom meeting IPOK, travelled to Curacao and held discussions with the Presidiums of Aruba and Curacao on February 4.
PHOTO CUTLINE: Delegations in a videoconference.
The presidiums of the aforementioned parliaments prepared for a video conference that took place on February 5 where a number of decisions were taken in preparation for the IPOK in the Netherlands early March.
The video conference was very constructive and the propositions made by Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten were accepted. All parties agreed that the delegations of the countries will cooperate with each other in order to make the IPKO a success.
Among the issues decided upon: the Presidium of each country is formed by Presidents of the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the President of the Committees Kingdom Affairs and the Secretaries General, except for the Netherlands, where the Chairman of the Committees Kingdom Affairs of the First and Second Chamber and the Secretaries General, will form the Presidium.
The Presidents of the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Netherlands, and Chairmen of the Dutch Committee, are heads of the delegations and will sign the final document.
Each delegation can make an annotation in the decision list if the country has a different view. An explanation of this position can be given in an annex, which formally is not a part of the decision list.
All delegations can participate in the working groups. The Netherlands (First Chamber) will take the lead in a working group if the subject regards the Netherlands in the Caribbean (BES islands).
The Presidiums of Aruba comprised of, C.G. (Chris) Dammers, Vice President, G.R. (René) Herdé and mr J.A. Bastien-Sherman, Secretary General. Curacao was represented by President M.C.F. (Mike) Franco, H.M. (Helmin) Wiels, and mr S. Cijntje, Secretary General.
During the meeting in Willemstad, the draft agenda for the IPKO in March was discussed. In mutual agreement some proposals for changes and additions were made to the draft agenda. These proposals were discussed during the video conference on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, with the IPKO Presidium of the Netherlands, Jeroen Recourt, President of the Committee Kingdom Affairs of the Second Chamber and Marijke Linthorst, President of the Committee Kingdom Affairs of the First Chamber and the Secretaries General of respective Chambers.
The initial meeting paving the way for discussions was a result of the initiative taken by the President of the Parliament of Sint Maarten, to invite the Presidents of the Parliaments of Aruba and Curaçao, to come to Sint Maarten on January 28, 2013, to discuss amongst other things the upcoming IPKO.