From Friday, September 26 to Monday, September 29, 2025, the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) will take place in The Hague. Delegations from the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the States General will discuss themes that affect the countries of the Kingdom collectively. Under the leadership of Olger van Dijk, chairman of the permanent committee for Kingdom Relations of the House of Representatives, the delegates will discuss education, geopolitical developments, aging, and the seventieth anniversary of the Statute for the Kingdom during this edition.
The IPKO will be opened on Friday, September 26 at 9:30 AM in the plenary hall of the Senate. The Caribbean State delegations will present recent developments in their countries. Subsequently, the forty delegates will pay a working visit to The Hague University of Applied Sciences. There, they will receive an explanation about the course on Kingdom Affairs and speak with Caribbean students about their experiences in Dutch education. Papiamento will also be discussed as a medium of instruction.
On Saturday, September 27, the consultation will continue in the Senate with a discussion about geopolitical developments. The secondary vocational education in the Kingdom will also be discussed. In the afternoon, Paul Comenencia, State Councilor of the Kingdom at the Council of State, will provide an explanation of his advice 70 years of Statute for the Kingdom. Richard van Zwol, former chairman of the State Commission on Demographic Developments 2050, will later brief the delegates on the challenges associated with aging.
On Monday, September 29, the king will receive the delegates of the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation at Palace Noordeinde. The IPKO will conclude with the establishment and signing of the list of agreements. At 4:00 PM, there will be a joint press conference with the chairs of the four delegations.
The Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) is a biennial consultation between the parliaments of the Kingdom. The consultation is alternately organized in one of the Caribbean countries of the Kingdom and in The Hague. During the IPKO, delegations exchange information and positions. Additionally, there is room for personal consultations on various topics that concern the countries. The first consultation dates back to 1970 with partners including the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Suriname. After 1975, the year Suriname gained independence, meetings took place between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles. In 1986, the year Aruba gained its Status Aparte, the number of partners returned to three. Since October 10, 2010, the date of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the IPKO consists of the parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Netherlands.
The opening and most meetings of the IPKO are public and can be followed via the livestream of the Senate.
