On the picture Mr. Joost Reintjes, Head of the Western Hemisphere Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By Roy Lie A Tjam
The arrival of the Latin America table at the Litteraire Societeit De Witte has been a highly anticipated. On Friday 28th February, Mr. Joost Reintjes, Head of the Western Hemisphere Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered his inaugural speech. The musical Intermezzo played by pianist Joris van Goudoever, contributed to a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere at de Groenezaal of Soc De Witte.
Ms Sonia Meijer, Chair of the Latin American Table, warmly welcomed the guests and thanked them for coming to this very special occasion. Among the fifty attendees were Ambassadors from across Latin-America, spanning from Mexico to Brazil and Peru.
For additional Kim Vermaat’s pictures on the event, please click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/albums/72157663105842783
In his address, Mr. Joost Reintjes, a former Dutch diplomat highlighted how he was asked to speak about the relationship between Latin-America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. His response: “I will gladly do so, but on one condition, that I may approach the subject through the prism of a passion, the Dutch and the Latino’s share, football.”
Mr. Joost Reintjes noted how his first encounters with Latin-America were colored by football and football-players. In 1974, the Netherlands played Uruguay, an impressive team that included the fearless Pablo Forlán. “We then played Argentina with the young Mario Kempes and later Brazil with the emerging star Revelino”.
In 1998 Reintjes worked in Venezuela, the year Argentina played The Netherlands in the World Cup. The whole of Venezuela was cheering for the Netherlands; he was touched and surprised by the display of solidarity. However the tables turned when the Netherlands played against Brazil, all of a sudden everyone in Venezuela decided to support Brazil. Football: full of surprises.
Reintjes used to think only the Dutch were crazy about football, but it turned out the Dutch are far from alone in that respect. This ‘locura’ about football was one of the first similarities he encountered between the two countries, reflecting their broader level of understanding and like-mindedness.
The relations between the two entities are excellent and always improving, highlighted through the support Latin America has shown the Netherlands in their search for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council. It must be noted how three of the four autonomous countries of the Kingdom are located in the Caribbean. Thanks to this Caribbean dimension, the Netherlands actually are not that bad at baseball either, but that is a topic for another day.
Reintje stated how the Netherlands and CELAC share a solid basis of political understanding with the democracy in both regions being firmly rooted. Both countries share a strong commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights. They both believe in effective, representative and transparent global governance, the ideal of an inclusive society with opportunity for all.
Latin America has its challenges, but the Dutch have plenty of reasons to envy you. Where the spectre of interstate conflict has reared its ugly head in the east of Europe, many disagreements between Latin American states are still resolved in courtrooms. Despite economic headwinds in the near future, the middle classes are expanding. Latin-America, in many way can be regarded as in many ways as a stable region.
The CELAC region is on the rise, with a consistent growth in GDP over the last 15 years – around 3.5% per year according to the World Bank – and a growing income for over 600 million inhabitants, Latin America and the Caribbean have become an important economic force in the world.
Furthermore, the economic cooperation will be beneficial to both our regions. It will bring growth, jobs and an improved standard of living. We saw, for example, a sharp rise in trade between Colombia, Peru and the EU after the adoption of the Free Trade Agreement. For some goods, the agreement led to a rise in trade that exceeded 100%. There are many factors that bind the CELAC region and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, such as politics, commerce and of course, football.
Mr Joost Reintjes, before concluding returned back to football “unfortunately, we did not win the world cup in ’78, or to be more specifically, we have not ever won it. And during the last World Cup we were eliminated, once again, by, you’re absolutely right, Argentina. There is no need to mention Brazil regarding the last World Cup.”
So after this devastation, the Dutch squad decided not to attend the 2016 European Cup in order to prepare for the 2018 World Cup of 2018 in Russia with the view of trying to win this one. When the day of this final, hopefully against Argentina or another CELAC-country, arrives, sometime in June or July, I am hoping we can all watch it together at the table of Latin America in the Litteraire Societeit De Witte.
