A royal closing for the
Netherlands Russia bilateral year
The Netherlands-Russia year came to an official conclusion in Russia in the week of 4 to 11 November. A large economic delegation headed by the Dutch ministers Ploumen (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) and Schippers (Health, Welfare and Sport) visited Moscow and Kazan. A business delegation of the Dutch association representing employers and businesses in the technological industry (FME) travelled to Rostov on Don with a view to promoting Dutch involvement in infrastructural projects for the 2018 World Cup, other delegations visited Kazan to share and exchange knowledge in healthcare technology and Moscow to discuss the opportunities in the Energy sector. The Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited Moscow for the dinner with President Putin, they also joined the start of the CEO Roundtable and attended the concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on 9 November at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Peter Verheij, head of ING Trade Affairs, was closely involved in the organisation of the year’s closing events. He shared the following synopsis of his experiences in the final three days of the Netherlands-Russia year:
“On Wednesday 6 November I left for Moscow with the final folders for the Netherlands Russia Business Meet in my suitcase. Throughout the course of the afternoon the participants arrived at the hotel in Moscow and the entire delegation gathered in the evening: 90 representatives from around 60 companies along with government officials and dignitaries. A total of 120 people.”
“The kick-off of the trade mission in Moscow was the next morning. The event was in line with the established Netherlands Russia Business Meet organised in Amsterdam by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with ING and KPMG in April this year. Ministers Ploumen and Schippers attended the meet and Ron van Dartel, the Netherlands ambassador to Russia, provided a few introductory words. The actual business meet commenced at 2 pm with a plenary session and a brief presentation by the ING Russia’s economist Dmitry Polevoy who outlined the trade flows, economic outlook and business opportunities between the two countries.
‘The challenge
is to expand
new ties’This was followed by workshops and ample opportunity to network. It is always difficult to say just what the actual benefit of the business meet has been. In any case business partners from both countries exchanged information and business cards, shared experiences and one memorandum of understanding was signed.”
“On the morning of Friday 8 November I was at the ING office in Moscow where Ralph Hamers, the new CEO of ING and staff met each other. It was an informal, pleasant gathering. In the afternoon I went to the embassy where together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra staff we made the final arrangements for the concert that they were scheduled to give a concert for participants, guests and sponsors the next day.”
“The closing ceremony of the bilateral year on Saturday afternoon and evening consisted of a reception at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and a roundtable diner for CEOs who were invited by the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW). The grand finale was a concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.”
“The atmosphere in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, which will be showing works from the ING collection until the end of January 2014, was absolutely wonderful. The exhibition entitled The magic of Dutch Realism features 40 masterpieces from the 20th and 21st centuries and was well presented. It was a great opportunity for ING to offer this venue to the Ministry for the networking reception and closing ceremony of the bilateral year for which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frans Timmermans held his speech. The guests then went to the Conservatory to attend the concert by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Before the reception and during the break of the concert there was time for the CEOs of the companies invited to briefly mingle with the Royal Couple. At 11.15 am on Sunday morning we flew back to the Netherlands – very satisfied.” .
Peter Verheij in a conversation with the new Dutch ambassador
to Russia, Ron van Dartel.
‘The challenge is to expand new ties’
In response to the question of what the economic benefit of the Netherlands-Russia year has been, Verheij said: “The purpose of such a bilateral year is to strengthen existing contacts and to create new ties that should result in business. The big challenge is to expand these ties in the next year. After all, seeing each other and discussing good ideas is one thing; making a profit is done in the long term.”
For ING the highlights were the Netherlands Russia Business Meets in Amsterdam and Moscow, the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June and the Closing ceremony. “For us the takeaway from this year is the good cooperation with Foreign Affairs. Our office in Russia has done a good job putting itself on the map when it comes to doing business internationally,” he said.
Verheij has a clear idea why economic cooperation between the Netherlands and Russia has been so fruitful: “There are of course the historic ties, both cultural and business wise that have a knock-on effect in our economic relationship with Russia. And the Netherlands has always been a pioneering country. In the field of energy, for instance, our country has great innovative power. The Russians are longing for modernisation and innovation. We are at home in gas extraction, which means we can complement Russia well. This also applies to the construction of stadiums, implementation of infrastructural projects and expertise in health care innovation and many more by the way.” .
Dutch minister Frans Timmermans of Foreign Affairs shares the stage with
Marina Lochak, director of the State Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin.
