An European Concert for Romania

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An European Concert for Romania

H.E. Mrs. Brândușa Predescu, Ambassador of Romania and Wesley Troeger, composer One Minute Symphony dedicated to Romania. May 17, 2019.

With a full theatre, and the audience giving multiple stand up ovations, last Friday’s Romanian One Minute Symphony night at the Zuiderstrandtheater was a great success.

This extraordinary concert was presented to the Dutch public under the auspices of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Ambassador of Romania to the Netherlands, H.E. Mrs. Brândușa Predescu, and the CEO & Artistic Director of Residentie Orkest The Hague, Mr. Sven Arne Tepl. A special part of the concert was a One Minute Symphony composed by Wesley Troeger, which was inspired by a conversation with the Ambassador of Romania. 

Residentie Orkest at the Zuiderstrandtheater.

During the reception that took place prior to the concert, Ambassador Predescu explained how she met with the young composer at her embassy and how after talking about art, jazz and Romanian sport, Troeger decided to write the One Minute Symphony dedicated to Romania. 

“ A Romanian inspired concert with a European content, represents a bit of my country inside Europe, and listening to the experienced classical musicians interpreting a young composer inspired by Romania; this concert was a great experience. I really appreciate that the Dutch audience came in such big numbers. Former Dutch ministers, my dear colleagues ambassadors, and the heads of international courts sitting in The Hague were among many other friends that came.” 

H.E. Mrs. Brândușa Predescu, and the CEO & Artistic Director of Residentie Orkest The Hague, Mr. Sven Arne Tepl.

Not a seat was left unattended for this Romanian Friday night at the Zuiderstrandtheater. This truly European night concert brought to the audience Brahms concerto for piano No. 1, which was written by the great composer and inspired by Beethoven when he had just 25 years old. It was magistrally interpreted by pianist Hannes Minnaar who received several ovations from the public reclaiming him for an encore. His Chopin’s encore came out as a masterpiece again interpreted to perfection for more ovations received from an already captivated public.

After that, it was the time for Beethoven Symphony No. 7, perfectly interpreted by the Residentie Orkest, under the magistral and energized direction of Jan Willem de Vriend. What a fantastic evening, Beethoven never sounded so lively,  and this thought was undoubtedly shared as well by the public which adored maestro de Vriend’s direction. 

A sweeping night out, thanks Romania-EU!

Goznym malware: cybercriminal network dismantled in international operation

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Goznym malware: cybercriminal network dismantled in international operation

An unprecedented, international law enforcement operation has dismantled a complex, globally operating and organised cybercrime network. The criminal network used GozNym malware in an attempt to steal an estimated $100 million from more than 41 000 victims, primarily businesses and their financial institutions.

A criminal Indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, USA charges ten members of the GozNym criminal network with conspiracy to commit the following:

  • infecting victims’ computers with GozNym malware designed to capture victims’ online banking login credentials;
  • using the captured login credentials to fraudulently gain unauthorised access to victims’ online bank accounts;
  • stealing money from victims’ bank accounts and laundering those funds using U.S. and foreign beneficiary bank accounts controlled by the defendants.    

Over the course of the international operation, searches were conducted in Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Criminal prosecutions have been initiated in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and the United States.

This operational success is a result of the international law enforcement cooperation between participating EU Member States (Bulgaria and Germany) as well as Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and the United States (in alphabetical order). Europol, the European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation as well as Eurojust, the European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit supported the case. This operation showcases how an international effort to share evidence and initiate criminal prosecutions can lead to successful operations in multiple countries.

The GozNym network exemplified the concept of “cybercrime as a service,” with different criminal services such as bulletproof hosters, money mules networks, crypters, spammers, coders, organizers, and technical support.

The defendants advertised their specialised technical skills and services on underground, Russian-speaking online criminal forums.  The GozNym network was formed when these individuals were recruited from the online forums by the GozNym leader who controlled more than 41 000 victim computers infected with GozNym malware.

The leader of the GozNym criminal network, along with his technical assistant, are being prosecuted in Georgia by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

More information at: https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/goznym-malware-cybercriminal-network-dismantled-in-international-operation. 

The Hague’s Housing survey for internationals

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The Hague’s Housing survey for internationals

Finding a home is getting more difficult in The Hague region. Affordable housing is under pressure. We want to make sure everyone can enjoy living in The Hague region: Dutch and international. In order to do so, we want to make sure The Hague region has enough and affordable homes for everyone and improve the attractiveness of The Hague region for internationals.

To find out more about how internationals view the housing market of The Hague region, The Hague International Centre and the Municipality of The Hague are carrying out a housing survey. Please fill in the survey to provide your municipality with feedback of your experience of the housing market in The Hague region as tenant, owner, service provider or employer.

With the survey we hope to identify bottlenecks, housing shortages and developments in the international community. The more people participate in the survey the better, because the results of the housing survey will influence policy making and contribute to improvements. We will keep you posted on the results through The Hague International Centre.

We set up separate surveys for internationals, service providers and employers to receive as much feedback as possible. Each survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will remain confidential and anonymous.

Please visit: https://www.thehagueinternationalcentre.nl/news/2019-05/housing-survey

Life of Mine by the Embassy of Switzerland

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Life of Mine by the Embassy of Switzerland
Photo Exhibition at the Atrium, City Hall of The Hague

In the picture H.E. Mr. Heinz Walker-Nederkoorn, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Netherlands.

The Swiss Embassy in the Netherlands presented Life of  Mine, a  photo exhibition curated by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) to mark the International Day of Mine Awareness  (April 4) in the Atrium of the City Hall of The Hague. 

During his speech, Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn remarked: When my colleagues in Switzerland offered us the possibility of presenting this exhibition, my Deputy Mirko Zambelli and I immediately thought that The Hague, City of Peace of Justice, would be the perfect location.  It is perhaps a way to show the complementarity of Geneva and The Hague as two international cities hosting organisations engaged to promote human rights, sustainable development, safe migration, peace and justice. It is also important to note that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The mine action we are promoting today relates directly to the humanitarian spirit embedded in these conventions.

A series of photographs by Johannes Müller showed to hundreds of visitors the manifold impact that the explosive remnants of war have on communities, shedding light on the people whose lives have been impacted by explosive hazards and those who dedicate their lives to eliminating them. 

Live of Mine exhibition by the Embassy of Switzerland. Atrium, The Hague.

“For almost 10 years I have been covering conflict areas, war zones and combat theaters as a freelance photographer, working on documentaries on some of the most gruesome, brutal and inhuman conflicts of our time. Cease-fire or even liberation don’t necessarily mean that you are safe. In fact, this is – in most conflicts – the most dangerous phase for human beings. A phase that can stretch over decades.” Johannes Müller, photographer.

The exhibit with the main purpose of giving mine action a human face, runed from April 9 to 30 at the Atrium Den Haag (The Hague’s City Hall). Life-sized portrait photos allow viewers to truly “encounter” the subjects via their stories, at a very emotional and human level, to provide a deep, empathy-generating insight into mine action. The images were taken in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and Colombia.

Mr. Mirko Zambelli, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Switzerland with representatives from Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and from The HALO Trust.

The GICHD works toward keeping communities safe from the risks stemming from explosive ordinance. It supports its partners around the world to save lives and restore livelihoods.

By offering workshops and training courses, developing concepts, methods and tools, promoting open dialogue, sharing knowledge and promoting the effective and efficient use of resources,  the Centre supports the ultimate goals of mine action: saving lives, returning land to productive use, and promoting development.

Visiting a Live of Mine exhibition presented by the Embassy of Switzerland at the Atrium City Hall, The Hague.

Switzerland is fully committed to a world without new victims of mines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war, and is a founding member of the GICHD.

For more information about the International Day of Mine Awareness, please visit Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining – GICHD and www.lifeofmine.org. #togetheragainstmines

NRW Minister Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner encounters Ambassador Blay

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NRW Minister Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner encounters Ambassador Blay

In the picture Minister Dr. Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner & Ambassador Gina Blay – Picture by Land NRW, Robin Teller.

Monday, 13 May 2019, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia: Ghanaian Ambassador to Germany, Gina Blay, was received at Government House by NRW’s Minister of European and International Affairs, Dr. Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner.

North-Rhine Westphalia and the West African country hold a lasting partnership extending to governmental and civil society échelons, academic institutions as well as twin cities. 

The conversation between minister and ambassador was focused on the further development of the twelve year partnership as well as the three years old government-to-government initiative. For NRW’s government, the goal henceforth is to intensify economic ties, particularly by providing stipends to middle and small Ghanaian enterprises to present their products in the German market. 

Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo made it clear during his visit to NRW in 2018 that a top priority for his homeland is the economic growth. Hence Ambassador Blay aided by the NRW State Chancery paid a visit to various companies to promote the investment in Ghana. 

Since 2017 a unique administration exchange was set up between both governments, whereby bureaucrats from both countries, hailing from a plethora of ministries shadow each other in their respective working posts. The latter being the single such programme in Germany. 

For further information: 
Press release about the visit: https://www.land.nrw/de/pressemitteilung/minister-holthoff-pfoertner-trifft-die-ghanaische-botschafterin-gina-ama-blay-der

President Akufo-Addo in NRW: https://diplomatmagazine.eu/2018/03/26/ghanaian-president-in-nrw/

H.E. Dr. Xu Hong Chinese Ambassador in The Hague

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H.E. Dr. Xu Hong Chinese Ambassador in The Hague

The People’s Republic of China has a new Ambassador in the Netherlands. This important role has been taken up by Dr. Xu Hong, a Doctor of Law and former Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the PRC’s Foreign Ministry.

The government of the People’s Republic of China has recently nominated its new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This important and at the same time delicate role has been taken up by H.E. Dr. Xu Hong, an experienced Chinese diplomat and high-level officer of Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Born in 1963 in Xishui County, in China’s Hubei Province, Mr. Xu Hong pursued his studies in the field of Law, earning a PhD in this subject and starting its career with the PRC’s Foreign Ministry in 1985. In his private life, Dr. Xu is married, and he has a daughter. 

During his professional career, Dr. Xu held a number of different positions, including four years in the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (1992-96), two years as Assistant Mayor of Mianyang City (2000-01), as well as two posts abroad, namely as a Counsellor at the PRC’s Embassy in Thailand (2001-04) and as Beijing’s Ambassador in Barbados (2011-13).

In between these diverse experiences, Dr. Xu regularly came back to work for the Ministry’s Department of Treaty and Law, each time with increased responsibilities and a higher rank. After having accumulated almost 20 years of work for the Department, holding positions at an increasingly senior level, in 2013 Dr. Xu became the Department’s Director-General, a post he held until 2019. Finally, in Spring 2019, Beijing’s government selected Dr. Xu as the new top envoy to the Netherlands, with the title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.  

H.E. Hong Xu, Ambassador of China.

In an exclusive piece written for Diplomat Magazine in July, Ambassador Xu compared the relations between his country and the Netherlands to “a great ship sailing the sea.” Talking about this long-standing relations, Mr. Xu defined “mutual respect and the pursuit of peace” as the ship’s compass, “hard working, bravery and perseverance” as its anchor, and “openness and inclusiveness, pragmatism and mutual benefit” as its sail. 

Praising the significant gains achieved in Sino-Dutch cooperation in the past, Ambassador Xu also indicated the way forward in these complex times. As when riding a bicycle – Dr. Xu said using another metaphor – balance can only be maintained by going forward, that is, pinpointing current challenges and jointly investigating how to address them. “Only in this way can our ship sail steady afar” – the Ambassador concluded. 

KSA’s ambassador accredited in Berlin 

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KSA’s ambassador accredited in Berlin 

Ambassador Prince Faisal bin Farhan & President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier – Picture by Bundespräsidialamt.

Wednesday, 27 March 2019, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany: His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al Saud was accredited at Bellevue Palace after presenting the credentials from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Germany’s head of state, Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

Prince Faisal bin Farhan brings to the ambassadorship professional experiences in the private sector – defence and armament- as well as in the field of diplomacy, having recently been a senior advisor to the Royal Saudi Ambassador to the USA, HRH Prince Khalid bin Salman -today Deputy Minister of Defence- as well as adviser to the Saudi monarch and his homeland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
Ambassador Al Saud was born in 1974 in Frankfurt am Main, and speaks fluent German at a mother language level. 

For further information:
http://embassies.mofa.gov.sa/sites/Germany/EN/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.weforum.org/people/h-h-prince-faisal-bin-farhan-al-saud

Icelandic chairmanship of Arctic Council

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Icelandic chairmanship of Arctic Council

Minister Guðlaugur Thórdarson, Iceland and Minister Timo Soini, Finland. Picture by Government of Iceland.

Tuesday, May 7 2019, Rovaniemi, Republic of Finland: Iceland shall lead the Arctic Council for two years after Minister of Foreign Affairs Guðlaugur Thór Thórdarson, received the gavel from his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini at the Rovaniemi Ministerial Meeting held in Finland. The latter function marked the finale of Finland’s two-year chairmanship of the Council.

Minister Thórdarson presented Iceland’s chairmanship programme titled “Together Towards a Sustainable Arctic”, highlighting three priority areas: i)the Arctic Marine Environment, ii) climate and green energy solutions as well as iii) people and communities of the Arctic. The chairmanship shall likewise continue strengthening the internal work of the Arctic Council and promoting its work internationally while supporting its ongoing activities in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.

All eight foreign ministers of the Council’s members states attended the meeting, that is, from Canada, Russia, the United States as well as the five Nordic countries. The meeting was also attended by leaders of the six permanent participants and representatives of thirty nine observers, including China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. 

For further information: 
Arctic Council: https://arctic-council.org/index.php/en/

Icelandic chairmanship: https://www.government.is/library/01-Ministries/Ministry-for-Foreign-Affairs/PDF-skjol/Arctic%20Council%20-%20Iceland’s%20Chairmanship%202019-2021.pdf
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Eurojust’s new National Member for Latvia

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Eurojust’s new National Member for Latvia

Ms Dagmāra Skudra joined Eurojust on 1 May. She replaced Gunars Bundzis, who was National Member for Latvia from May 2004 until his retirement in April 2019.

Ms Skudra has had a career in public service for more than 20 years. She started at the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior in 1997, and switched to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia in 1999, starting as Assistant to the Prosecutor.

She was promoted to Prosecutor in 2001, and became active in the International Cooperation Division in 2002. In April of this year, when she left the Prosecutor General’s Office, she was Deputy Prosecutor General and Head Prosecutor of the Department of Analysis and Management.

From 2004 to 2013, Ms Skudra was, in addition to her duties in the Prosecutor General’s Office, also Deputy to the National Member of Latvia at Eurojust. Since 2012, she has been a European Judicial Network Contact Point. She has also represented Latvia on the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors since 2017.

Ms Skudra graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia in 2000, and also holds an LL.M. from the University of Augsburg.

Upon her arrival at Eurojust, Ms Skudra said: ‘I am pleased to be joining my colleagues in the College as National Member for Latvia. My association with Eurojust goes back a long way, and I look forward to continuing the good work of my predecessor, who served from the very beginning of Latvia’s membership in the European Union. My familiarity with Eurojust and the EJN, as well as my many years in international cooperation, have prepared me for this next step in my career.’ 

U.S. State Department hails at progress in anniversary of JCPOA withdrawal

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U.S. State Department hails at progress in anniversary of JCPOA withdrawal

In the picture Brian Hook , US Special Representative for Iran.

By Guido Lanfranchi.

One year after the announcement of the United States’ decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal, the U.S. State Department points at the achievements of its recent policies towards Iran. The remarks come at a time where tensions between the two countries are particularly high.

At the beginning of May 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States would cease its participation in the Iran Nuclear Deal. One year later, the situation has dramatically changed, with the U.S. imposing ever-increasing, tough economic sanctions on Iran, and the Iranian government announcing that it will disregard some of the limits imposed by the deal, if the benefits associated to the agreement do not materialize soon.

Despite the heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Senior Officials in the U.S. administration look with satisfaction at the “U.S. policy achievements since withdrawing from the JCPOA”, referring to the formal name of the agreement. Mr. Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, welcomed the imposition of “the toughest sanctions ever on this Iranian regime”, and vowed to “continue to expose maximum pressure on the regime until it abandons its destabilizing ambitions”. “We will never be held hostage to the Iranian regime’s nuclear blackmail” – Mr. Hook continued – “and outside of the deal we are in a much better position to address the full range of Iran’s destabilizing activities”.

Dr. Victoria Coates, Senior Director for Middle Eastern Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, joined Mr. Hook in celebrating the achievement of the U.S. in increasing Iran’s isolation in the international scene. Dr. Coates said that President Trump has shown that “the United States retains unprecedented economic clout”, and that his guidance is to “continue increasing this pressure” on Iran’s government “until Tehran is compelled to negotiate on terms favorable to the U.S. or choose between survival and exporting terror, as it will not be able to do both”. In this regard, Mr. Hook pointed at recent reductions in Iran’s spending on its military and on allied groups across the region, seen by the U.S. administration as a proof of success of its recent policies towards Iran.

The U.S officials also commented on the recent tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Mr. Hook explained that the U.S. repositioned some of its military assets in response to “indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against U.S. forces and our interests in the Middle East.” Echoing the words of his colleagues in the U.S. administration, Mr. Hook added that “the United States does not seek war with Iran, but we are ready to defend U.S. forces and interests in the region”. 

The officials also commented on the recent announcement by Iranian President Mr. Hassan Rouhani, who said that Iran will start enriching uranium to higher levels if the benefit theoretically granted by the 2015 nuclear deal will not materialize within two months. Mr. Hook said that the U.S. will be “examining very closely” the evolution of the situation. In the meanwhile, however, he refused to speculate about any potential step that Iran or the U.S. could take in the near future.


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