WILLEMSTAD - The first four-country consultation in the areas of education and culture will be taking place in Curaçao on February 7 and 8.

Civil servants of the four countries within the Kingdom – Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten and the Netherlands – made the necessary preparations for the consultation last year.

Curaçao’s Minister of Education, Culture and Science Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé sent a written invitation to her Dutch counterpart Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven on December 27, 2018. In the letter it is stated that a welcome party will be given at the Riffort in Otrobanda on February 7.

Among possible points of discussion during the consultation, which will be held 8:00am to 4:00pm February 8, are a training school for teachers, a civil law degree, study financing, vocational education and the Caribbean Examinations Council CXC.

The HAVO exams provided by CXC are internationally acknowledged and provide access to education in the Caribbean region, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

CXC, which is officially recognized by the Caribbean Community CARICOM, presents 250,000 English-language exams per year.

Where culture is concerned the four-country consultation will be focusing on underwater heritage, the Culture Fund and cultural education.