WILLEMSTAD--The Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten were able to reach an agreement on a number of returning issues such as the rights of the child, cohesion in the Kingdom, health care and economic cooperation at the 2015 Kingdom Conference in Curaçao on Tuesday.

 

However there was no final accord on the greatest challenge of the conference: the dispute regulation.

 

After more than 12 hours of deliberation, the four countries signed a declaration at Santa Barbara Resort on Tuesday night in the presence of members of the media, close to four hours after the scheduled press conference was supposed to have taken place. Discussions on especially the dispute regulation (geschillenregeling) took much longer than expected.

 

Because it was not possible to arrive at an agreement on the format of the dispute regulation, it was decided to defer this matter to the next meeting, a consultation of the four governments in three months' time.

 

This meeting will have as objective to present a proposal for a Kingdom Law establishing the dispute regulation within one year after that meeting. This postponement means that the dispute regulation, a fervent wish of the Dutch Caribbean countries, will not materialise within the foreseeable future. A work group will prepare this meeting.

 

The four Parliaments of the Kingdom agreed at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO in late May to give their governments the specific task to establish a dispute regulation at the Kingdom Conference. The Parliaments even had set the contours of the dispute regulation.

 

The joint document the leaders of the delegations at the Kingdom Conference signed stated that the decision of the IPKO would be "fully incorporated" in further deliberations. The agreement stated, "The conference has concluded that the governments did not arrive at an agreement on the format of a Kingdom Law as meant in article 12a of the Charter," which states that the Kingdom will have a dispute regulation.

 

Despite the fact that no agreement had been reached, the delegation leaders still were positive about the Kingdom Conference. "We had serious talks, but we were able to truly look into each other's objections and to set concrete steps in the interest of the Kingdom. We were able to exchange thoughts in sincerity and I am looking forward to an even better year for the Kingdom," said Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk.

 

"We faced great challenges to come to an agreement, but I am happy that the gap has been bridged. There will be a consultation of the governments to give content to the IPKO agreement," said Aruba Prime Minister Mike Eman. "We had different opinions on the dispute regulation, but we are going home with clear agreements on important matters like children's rights, economic cooperation and cohesion in the Kingdom.

 

"Solidarity was shown. Despite the difficult moments, we found sufficient common ground to give content to the continuation of the Kingdom and to create new perspective,"

 

Curaçao Vice-Prime Minister Etienne van der Horst said solid agreements on cooperation had been made and parties also had been able to talk about an issue on which they did not agree: the dispute regulation.

"It is a good thing that we talked about that. We looked each other deep in the eyes and decided that together we will keep working on this. We showed that we can continue our talks and solve this together. I am confident that we will succeed," Van der Horst said.

 

St. Maarten Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs used the saying "All's well that ends well" to describe the outcome of the Kingdom Conference. "We had some dark clouds at the start, but we ended with sunshine in our face and hearts. The dispute regulation was the biggest challenge, but we have proven that we can stand for our own beliefs and still reach an agreement."

 

Gumbs said the dispute regulation required a lasting solution, not a quick fix that would be regretted later on. He complimented his colleagues for showing their strengths during the sometimes difficult talks and profoundly thanked the work groups that had done the preparatory work. "Thank you and God bless this Kingdom."

 

The Chairman of the Kingdom Conference, Curaçao Prime Minister Ivar Asjes, said the agreements that had been signed on Tuesday showed that positive things had been achieved thanks to the "positive and sincere attitude" of the delegations.

 

The four countries signed four protocols to promote cohesion in the Kingdom, to promote twinning projects within the Kingdom, to launch the website "Invest in the Dutch Kingdom," and a protocol between Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten to cooperate in the area of competition (mededinging).

 

It was decided that St. Maarten will be hosting the next Kingdom Conference slated for April 2016. The first two Kingdom Conferences were held in the Netherlands (December 2011) and Aruba (April 2014).

 

The Daily Herald