President Park Geun-hye held summit talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 24. The two leaders discussed ways to substantially boost cooperation in energy, science, technology, agriculture and nuclear energy. They also exchanged in-depth opinions on how to enhance people-to-people exchanges and ways to cooperate in responding to global issues.

President Park told her Dutch counterpart that she is glad to visit the Netherlands again, mentioning her previous visit in 2011 which marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Netherlands. She said her visit holds significance as this is the first official visit to the Netherlands for a Korean head of state since the two countries started diplomatic relations.


President Park told the Dutch leader that the two countries have become reliable partners for each other in the business world. She said that both countries share a common background of achieving today’s level of development by overcoming the limits of geography and limited natural resources. “The Netherlands is strong in shipping, logistics and financial services, while Korea has prowess in manufacturing and information and communications technology (ICT). The bilateral economic cooperation between the two nations will create great synergies,” said President Park.

As the Dutch government's “top nine” policy is very similar to Korea’s three-year economic reform plan, President Park said that bilateral cooperation will bear fruit in a creative manner. Under the "top nine" policy, the Dutch government aims to raise its rate of growth and generate more jobs by focusing on investing in nine selected sectors, including agriculture, horticulture, high-tech, energy, life sciences, chemistry and water.


Prime Minister Rutte told President Park that he hopes his nation will successfully host the Nuclear Security Summit, following Korea’s successful hosting of past nuclear summits. He also said that the Netherlands has always respected Korea’s economic success.

President Park hoped that Dutch youth would be able to strengthen the foundation of the two countries' friendship by boosting exchanges and cooperation among the peoples of the two countries and by learning about Korea. She also mentioned that more and more textbooks in Dutch schools are introducing successful stories and examples from Korea.


Meanwhile, President Park told Prime Minister Rutte that his country’s "brain bank" is one of the most successful ones in Europe. She hoped to bolster cooperation between related research institutions, as Korea plans to build a similar "brain bank." She also explained Korea’s nuclear industry to her Dutch counterpart and asked him to take an interest in cooperating in the nuclear energy sector. She asked him to seriously consider Korean firms when his government places orders for nuclear energy components and nuclear reactors.

The Dutch government proposed an industrial alliance between the Netherlands’ water treatment technology and Korea’s high quality water treatment industry, to jointly enter third markets. The president welcomed the Netherlands’ water industry proposals. President Park asked the Netherlands to jointly work together for the success of the World Water Forum, which Korea will host next year, and asked for the country’s participation in the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The Dutch government promised to carefully review the proposal.

After the summit, the two leaders attended a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on a working holiday visa program between Korea and the Netherlands.

By Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr