Dutch diplomat lauds strong Dutch-Kuwaiti relations

THE HAGUE, Feb 21 (KUNA) -- Secretary-General of the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Yoka Brandt, praised the strong and growing political and economic relationship between the Netherlands and Kuwait.
"This is the 34th occasion on which National Day has been celebrated in my country since the opening of the embassy of Kuwait in The Hague in 1984. The Netherlands and Kuwait have maintained excellent bilateral ties for over half-a-century," she said in a speech during a reception hosted by the Kuwait embassy at The Hague on Tuesday evening to mark the country's 57th Independence Day and 27th Liberation Day.
She noted that in 1964, the Netherlands was among the first nations to establish diplomatic relations with Kuwait but ties date back even further. In fact in 1756 a Dutch explorer was the first Europeans to visit Kuwait to explore trade opportunities.
"Today the economic ties between our countries remains strong. For the past decade Netherlands has been the biggest trading partner of Kuwait in the EU," she said.
Brandt said that Kuwait and Netherlands share some similarities. "They are relatively small countries situated in the neighborhood of big brothers and sisters. We each try for peaceful relations and play the role of the mediator. We are both big humanitarian donors." "Our similarities and our excellent bilateral relations allow us to discuss a wide range of matters in the political, economic, multilateral and cultural spheres. We know that we can reach out to each other in good times and bad," said the Dutch diplomat.
She said "another thing that unites us that this year is the Netherlands and Kuwait have a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Kuwait holds this month the Presidency of the UN Security Council and next month it will be the Netherlands turn to preside." "A seat on the UN Security Council gives both our countries the chance to exert influence at the highest level and to put issues we consider important on the agenda," she said.
Brandt noted that this week eight students from Kuwait and eight from Netherlands are meeting in The Hague to work together in areas such as humanitarian aid, water-food-energy nexus and to learn from each other's' culture and build cross-border friendship.
Meanwhile, a large number of ambassadors, diplomats, representatives of international organizations and international courts based at The Hague attended the reception. (end) nk.gta