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Ailyn Agonia
DOHA
VICE-Minister and Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Yoka Brandt and the Secretary-General of Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Ahmad Hassan alHammadi inaugurated the new Netherlands Embassy premises in Doha on Thursday.
Netherlands Ambassador to Qatar HE Dr Bahia Tahzib-Lie was present on the occasion.
The opening of the new embassy premises on the 18th floor of Alfardan Office Tower in West Bay took place in the presence of other embassy staff and guests.
The Netherlands Embassy was first established in Doha in 2005. The mission is looking forward to move to their new, spacious home towards the end of May.
"I'm very happy together with my counterpart from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, to symbolically open the new embassy premises. We feel that this is very important and marks a new chapter in the relations of the two countries," Secretary-General Brandt told the local media on the occasion.
"Qatar-The Netherlands ties are old and very good. It's not confined to our governments alone. It also involves close relationship between our royal families, between our business communities, institutions as well as our prosecutor's offices. We have an excellent base to build on our ties further", the Dutch official said.
"By moving to bigger premises, we hope to be able to further grow and expand our bilateral relations with Qatar," she added.
She also mentioned having a fruitful meeting with her Qatari counterpart prior to the inauguration ceremony which focused on bilateral relations as well as international issues of mutual concern.
Commenting on the current the situation in the region, Brandt reiterated support of the Netherlands to the mediation efforts of Kuwait.
"The Gulf crisis is not good for anybody. It's not good for Qatar and other countries in the region. We feel that the only way forward is to have direct talks involving all the parties and, therefore, the Netherlands fully supports the initiative of Kuwait to mediate in this situation," she said.
Ambassador Dr Tahzib-Lie mentioned the growing trade and investment ties between the two countries and stronger people-to-people connections.
"It is great to see that Qatar and the Netherlands connect, inspire and complement each other across a wide range of sectors including energy, agriculture, art, human rights and sports. The Netherlands highly values its partnership with Qatar," the Dutch envoy remarked.
The trade relation between both countries amounts to around 800 million Euros. Dutch export to Qatar increased 33 percent during 2017 to reach 526 million Euros.
