By Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland, Justice in the Court of Appeal and honorary Special Advisor International Affairs of the Municipality of The Hague.
The year 2013 was a special one: the succession to the throne. This was of course also important to the new ambassadors in The Haghe who had to present their credentials. On April 17th the new ambassador of China, H.E. Chen Xu (51), was the last ambassador who did that to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix (75), on May 8th the new ambassador of Marocco H.E. Abdelouahab Bellouki (58) was the first one to present his credentials to her eldest son, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander (46). With something new: photos have been made of every presenting of credentials since the new King took over.
In 2013 all together five ambassadors in The Hague presented their credentials to the Queen and twentythree to the King. The ones that I did not yet introduce to you are H.E. Musaru Tsjui (62) from Japan on November 27th, H.E. Vestine Nahimana (50) from Burundi and H.E. Jaime Victor B. Ledda (also 50) from the Philippines on December 4th and H.E. Piragibe Dos Santos Tarrago (61) from Brasil. A warm welcome in The Hague to all of you !
All together there are now exactly one hundred ambassadors in The Hague. Above that number there are 51 countries –most of them are small ones- with an ambassador in Brussels who also are ambassador to The Netherlands, plus one in London and one in Bern. It is a pity we almost never see them in The Hague. Nine countries do have a Chargé d’Affairs in The Hague who is Chef de Poste; among them remarkably the USA that already since some years has no ambassador here. In Brussels (10) and London (2) also the Chargé d’Affairs is Chef de Poste also in The Netherlands.
I wish all the ambassadors and their staff and families a healthy, happy and prosperous 2014 !
