THE HAGUE--Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten is travelling to Curaçao next week for a meeting of the Political Steering Group.
The agenda of the meeting, which is being planned for Thursday, February 11, is not known yet, but as usual, the main topic of the discussion will be the constitutional reform process involved in dismantling the Netherlands Antilles and creating Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten.
The target date to realise new relations in the Dutch Kingdom is October 10, 2010, and the legislation trajectory needs to be completed in the Parliaments of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles before that date. Curaçao and St. Maarten have to comply with a number of conditions before they can become countries.
Whether the future countries have complied with these conditions, which include setting up a properly functioning system of law and order, will be assessed at a vetting Round Table Conference (RTC) in September 2010. This RTC, the third one, will be chaired by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Before travelling to Curaçao for the Political Steering Group, Bijleveld-Schouten will go to Aruba for a two-day working visit.
