THE HAGUE - The Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) will take place on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 January 2021. Due to the corona measures, the consultation will, as with the previous IPKO in June 2020, consist of largely informal conversations via a digital video platform. During this digital IPKO, delegations from the parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao of Sint Maarten and the States General (Dutch Parliament), under the chairmanship of the chairman of the Parliament of Aruba, will discuss issues that affect all countries of the Kingdom. The developments surrounding the corona virus are again central during this IPKO.
Wednesday January 6
First of all, a presentation will be given on the recent developments surrounding the corona virus in a public plenary section per country on Wednesday.
On behalf of the States General delegation, the chairman of the permanent committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber, Jan Paternotte, will briefly discuss the measures that the Netherlands has had to take to combat the corona virus and its effects in the Netherlands, with special attention to the approach on Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius.
After the plenary part, further discussions will be held in closed subgroups about the measures per country, best practices, the cooperation within the Kingdom to date and the possibilities for further cooperation in the future. In three separate discussions, the focus will be on the past period, the short-term perspective and the situation on the (medium) long term.
Thursday January 7
On Thursday there is a public plenary conclusion of the informal digital Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation, with feedback from the working groups.
The plenary deliberations between the delegations are public and can be followed directly via a live stream on the websites of the Dutch Parliament.