Full text of interview with Mark Rutte, Dutch PM

English>>Foreign Affairs

Editor's Pick

Full text of interview with Mark Rutte, Dutch PM

(People's Daily Online) 13:58, November 15, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte (File photo/ Provided to People's Daily Online)

Dutch PM Rutte starts a two-day visit to China on Friday. The following is the full text of People’s Daily Online’s written interview with Rutte before he arrives in Beijing:

PD Online: Could you please talk about your expectations and feelings about your first visit to China after taking office as Dutch Prime Minister? Can you say something about the purpose and plan of your visit? Will any cooperation agreements between China and the Netherlands be signed? If so, which areas will be covered?

Rutte: A key priority for me is to get to know the new Chinese leadership better. My visit to China also reflects the importance I attach to our diplomatic and economic ties. I’ve been to China before, once in my capacity as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science. Arriving here just after the new leadership’s presentation of the reform agenda to the Party Congress provides an excellent opportunity to discuss matters of mutual interest. Subjects like food safety, financial services, urban planning and clean water are important to both China and the Netherlands. To help us address them, it makes sense to further explore common ground. For the same reason, we are stepping up cooperation between our universities. I will be attending the signing of a cooperation agreement between China Agricultural University, Wageningen University and the Dutch firm Friesland Campina. I will be joined by the CEOs of leading Dutch companies. They attach huge importance to doing business in China. We have around 1,000 companies operating from locations here in China, employing over 130,000 Chinese people. They are keen to expand their Chinese operations and I support that.

PD Online: Lilianne Ploumen, Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, will lead a business delegation to China in advance. Could you please introduce the principal members of the delegation? Which industries are they from, and what are their business plans for this visit?

Rutte: The business delegation accompanying Lilianne Ploumen and myself represents leading Dutch companies that deliver innovative products and services of outstanding quality. They do business in a wide range of fields including dairy, aerospace, financial services, high tech, transport, logistics and consumer goods. All are already actively engaged with China and look forward to further enhancing their trade and investment relations.

PD Online: China and the Netherlands have had diplomatic relations for 41 years. How do you view Sino-Dutch cooperation and relations in politics, the economy, trade, culture and other fields over the years? What have you done as Prime Minister to promote Sino-Dutch cooperation? Do you have detailed plans to further deepen cooperation between the two countries?

Rutte: The Netherlands and China have a lot to offer to each other. We are strengthening our ties in many fields, ranging from economic to political and cultural cooperation. My visit reflects this. China is important to us. Within the European Union, the Netherlands is China’s second largest trading partner, and worldwide the Netherlands is its eighth biggest investment partner. In the fields of water, agriculture, high tech and creative industries in particular, I see a lot of opportunities to do business and to share expertise. We also work together in the political arena, for example in protecting important trade routes from piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The Netherlands is hosting the Nuclear Security Summit next year and we hope China will play an important role. And of course for a relationship to improve even further, we also need to promote closer ties between our people. This is why we are broadening our cultural exchange initiatives. Next year we will be bringing an impressive Van Gogh exhibition to China along with our leading institutions in the field of music and dance. To sum up, we are expanding and deepening our relationship at the same time.