By Joe Ray.
H.E. Mr Timothy Broas, US Ambassador to the Netherlands, was welcomed to the University of Groningen on 12 November to give a speech on US-EU relations and the rise of Asia.
The event was co-organised by the study associations of the American Studies and International Relations bachelor programmes, and was moderated by Dr Ronald Holzhacker, Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Relations.
The Ambassador’s speech focused on four main themes: prosperity, security, environmental stewardship, and shared values. It was followed by a Q&A session and a reception.
Ambassador Broas began by observing that Groningen was the tenth province he had visited in the Netherlands since his appointment in March 2014. In every province, he said, he had been struck by the country’s entrepreneurial spirit and forward-thinking attitude. He expressed his fondness for the nation and its people, and impressed the attendant Dutch-speakers with a few sentences in their native language.
The US-Netherlands relationship is among the strongest bilateral partnerships in the world, noted the Ambassador – especially in the field of economics. The US is the largest external investor in the Netherlands, and the latter is among the five largest investors in the US. He added that small and medium-sized enterprises form the backbone of this close economic relationship between the two countries, and are a crucial driving force for growth and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.
Remaining on the theme of trade and investment, the Ambassador touched upon the issue of TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated between the US and EU. He acknowledged that TTIP remains a thorny issue in many quarters, and that public perceptions of the deal would benefit from improved discussion and greater exposure to neutral information.
At the suggestion of Dr Holzhacker, the Ambassador pledged to send a team from the US Embassy to Groningen in order to provide more information about TTIP to students and interested parties, and promised to continue engaging constructively with opponents of the deal. He remarked that a respectful, two-way dialogue is essential if creative solutions are to be found.
Moving on to what he termed “shared stewardship of the planet”, the Ambassador provided a concise and informative overview of US-Netherlands cooperation on environmental issues. He praised the close collaboration between the countries in combating greenhouse gas emissions, and revealed that US Secretary of State John Kerry will be spending a week in Paris at the forthcoming UN Climate Change Confidence. “Secretary Kerry never spends a week anywhere,” quipped the Ambassador, noting that Mr Kerry’s presence at the talks signifies the Obama Administration’s deep commitment to addressing the issue of climate change.
On matters of peace and security, the Ambassador also commended the strong and enduring relationship between the US and the Netherlands, as well the broader US-EU relationship. The conflict in Ukraine, he said, has highlighted the political stakes of security in Europe – a region to which the US remains fundamentally and irreversibly committed.
On the question of peace and security in Asia, the Ambassador reiterated that the US wants to see a peaceful resolution of the South China Sea dispute. He hailed the success of tough, principled diplomacy in bringing about the Iranian nuclear deal, and added that the US, Netherlands, EU, and NATO are together resolved to promote peace and stability worldwide. The final section of the Ambassador’s speech focused on shared values.
The principles and ideals of the US and the Netherlands are deeply intertwined, he observed, and include an unshakeable shared commitment to democracy, freedom, and human rights. Asked about Guantanamo Bay, the Ambassador reminded guests that the Obama Administration is taking all possible steps to reduce the number of detainees and close the facility. He also noted that despite political challenges, the number of inmates is steadily decreasing. On the subject of Cuba, the Ambassador hailed the recent restoration of US-Cuba ties, and expressed cautious optimism about the future of relations between the two countries.
He ended with a few words on the power of sport, bolstered by anecdotes drawn from his own lifelong affiliation with baseball. Sport is a force for good in the world, he concluded; it connects communities everywhere and unites us in common endeavour.
Photography by Dr Tjalling Halbertsma.
