Visit creates ‘Dutch oven’ for joint co-operation

A TRADE delegation from The Netherlands comprising more than 100 people and almost 80 companies will arrive in South Africa next month to find innovative ways to boost partnerships between the countries.

They will accompany The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Agriculture Minister Sharon Dijksma, and other senior government officials.

It will be the first time since 2001 that a Dutch prime minister has officially visited the country.

Announcing the visit and events organised around it, Marisa Gerards, the ambassador to South Africa, said: “We are going to celebrate the cooperation between our two countries and we’ll do that in novel ways.”

These innovative ways would include the House of the Future – a five-day festival of economic and cultural events that would answer how both countries could #cocreateSA?

Gerards said they would include the global phenomenon Get in the Ring, which saw start-up businesses making their cases to potential investors, and youngsters and academics from both countries holding debates and workshops on how to create an environment for the youth to get ahead.

South African Small Business Minister Lindiwe Zulu would also be involved in the events, and Johannesburg mayor Park Tau had apparently told the Dutch what he believed needed to happen in the city to give it an economic and cultural boost.

The ambassador said Rutte and the business delegates would attend the House of the Future, as well as the Garden of the Future in Cape Town which would highlight the “fruits” of the co-operation between South Africa and the Netherlands.

South Africa is the main trade partner of the Netherlands in Africa. – ANA