H.E. Dr. Hisham Al-Alawi, Ambassador of Iraq. By Roy Lie Atjam. The Hague, 1 November 2018. Building a Stable & Prosperous Democracy in Iraq. Food Security, Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Such was the theme of a one day conference organized by the Clingendael Institute and The Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the Netherlands. The venue was the Clingendael Institute and the Chancellery of Iraq for the afternoon session. The conference considered reconstructing a prosperous Iraq after an epoch of conflict and how Dutch – government and private sector could assist and support Iraq to build a prosperous and stable future. What is more, the conference paid special attention to the political, economic and security situation as well as specific needs such as water, agriculture and education. Speakers at the conference were:

• H.E. Dr. Hisham Al-Alawi, Ambassador of Iraq
• Ms. Nancy Ezzeddne (Clingendael)
• Dr. Louise van Schaik  Head of Sustainability Research (Clingendael)
• Mr. Tobias von Lossow (Clingendael)
• Ms. Simone van der Post (Dutch MFA)
• Mr. Wibo Schepel (BGC Shell)
• Mr. Nick Reijmers (Boskalis) and other speakers.

Their contribution certainly contributed to the success of the conference. The conference was an assessment of the situation, further exploration will be imperative before embarking on any cooperation scheme between the Netherlands and Iraq.  

By Guido Lanfranchi. On November 4^th, 2018, the United States has reimposed another batch of nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. Such measures are set to affect Iran’s energy, shipping, and banking sectors, and they will have impact both within and outside the US. Six months after announcing its withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal, the United States has reimposed a second set of nuclear-related sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Such sanctions – US Special Representative for Iran Mr. Brian Hook explains – “are the toughest sanctions on the Iranian regime that have ever been imposed,” and their aim is to bring about a decisive change in the behavior of the country. Following its withdrawal in May 2018, the US had already imposed a first round of sanctions in August. However, this latest set of sanctions, which entered into force on November 4^th, constitutes a decisive increase in the pressure applied on Iran. While the first set of restrictive measures were limited to the trade in goods such as carpets and commercial aviation parts, the latest measures are set to hit critical sectors of the Iranian economy, such as oil exports, shipping, insurance services, as well as the country’s financial and baking sector. However – Special Representative Hook noted – trade in food and medical goods with non-designated entities will be exempted from the sanctions. Talking to the press from Washington, Mr. Hook stressed that the aim of these measures is “to diminish the regime’s capacity to fund its broad range of threats to peace and security,” and to eventually push the Iranians back to the negotiating table. Mr. Hook reiterated that the US is open to negotiations with Iran, but clarified that such negotiations should address the whole range of Iran’s malign activities, and not only its nuclear programme. The US sanctions regime – Special Representative Hook noted – have already taken their toll on the Iranian economy. According to the State Department, over the last six months more than 100 major world companies have withdrawn from Iran, causing tens of billions of dollars in lost investments, and more than 20 countries have reduced to zero their imports of crude oil from Iran, causing more than USD 2 billion of lost revenue for the Iranian government. Eight countries have been temporarily exempted from the oil-related sanctions – Mr. Hook explained – in order to avoid major increases in global oil prices. While declining to comment on the terms of such exemptions, the Special Representative stressed that three of these countries are already on their way to reduce to zero their imports of Iranian crude. While being praised by some US allies such as Israel, the reimposition of sanctions on Iran has generated some disagreements between the US and its European allies, with the latter repeatedly stressing their commitment to preserve the JCPOA. Commenting on the issue, Special Representative Hook reiterated that, in spite of some diverging opinions on the JCPOA, the US and the EU share the same threat assessment of Iran, but that each country has the right to make its own decisions in its sovereign capacity. Nevertheless, as US sanctions have extraterritorial nature, European companies dealing with Iran do face the threat of US punishment. In an attempt to preserve the deal, the EU has been trying to implement mechanisms to bypass US sanctions, for example by means of the so-called Special Purpose Vehicle. However, Mr. Hook claimed that such mechanisms do not seem to enjoy a wide demand among European companies, as Iran’s economy is per se not much attractive for businesses. Moreover, the Special Representative stressed that the US will not hesitate in sanctioning any individual or entity that will contravene its sanctions regime. As the US seems more convinced than ever to apply a strong pressure on Iran, the whole world closely follows the developments and waits to see how the US-Iran confrontation will evolve in the future.          

Austrian Ambassador Heidemaria Gürer, a craft artist from Uzbekistan and H.E. Mr. Dilyor Khakimov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan. By Roy Lie Atjam. The Hague, Wednesday 31 October 2018 – The Ambassador of Uzbekistan accredited to the Netherlands H.E. Mr. Dilyor Khakimov, organized the Uzbekistan Food festival “Uzbek Flavours” together with Crowne Plaza Promenade and Diplomat Magazine. An authentic Uzbek silk, carpet and artisanal market complemented the Food Festival. For additional Marian van Noort’s pictures, please open the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/109407424@N02/albums/72157697385233180

The famous Uzbek Chef  Shomurod Samaev prepared a mouth watering dinner consisting of Starter Mokhora – chickpea soup, three Uzbek Samsas: one with mutton, one with pumpkin and one with greens flour, meat, pumpkin, greens, onion, mutton fat. Main course palov= rice with lamb, manti=steamed dumplings stuffed with lamb and pumpkin. Further Qozon kabob, Lamb brisket, potato, onion Dessert Behiyougogbleau = quince with crushed walnut.

Ambassador Dilyor Khakimov and his colleagues from Egypt, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Austria, Yemen along with diplomatic representatives, friends of Uzbekistan, Dutch MFA and business acquaintances, all enjoyed the fabulous dinner and art market. Ones more, Uzbekistan shines in the Netherlands.

 

   

The United Nations Day was celebrated in Curaçao on 24 October 2018, for the occasion Mr. Karel Frielink, Dean of the Consular Corps of Curaçao addressed the very special guests among them the Governor of Curaçao, Mrs. Lucille George-Wout, the vicePrime Minister of Curaçao and Minister of Health, Environment and Nature, Mrs. Suzy Camelia-Römer, thePresident of Parliament, Mr. William Millerson, the Minister of Social Development, Mr. Hensley Koeiman, the Commander of the Armed Forces on Curaçao, Brigadier General De Vin, the representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Curaçao, Mr. Raynel Martis, the Secretary General of the National Commission to UNESCO, Mrs. Marva Browne, the Chairwoman of the Uniting for Children Foundation, Mrs. Anne-Marie Pietersz-Powell and the Chairman of the Child First Foundation, Mr. Chris Peterson. During his speech, he noted: In the past months we welcomed new colleagues who became members of the Consular Corps of Curaçao: Mrs. Julie Tidey (Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom), Mrs. Ruthsella Jansen(Honorary Consul of Canada), Mrs. Bettina Kibbelaar (Honorary Consul of Switzerland) and Mrs. Waleska Schumacher (Honorary Consul of Brazil). We also welcomed Dr. Erwin Arkenbout, the recently appointed Representative of the Netherlands in Curaçao, who could not attend today’s event. Luckily, the Dutch Representative Office is represented by the deputy Representative Mrs. Hildegard Nefs. Unfortunately, on the 18^th of July 2018, Dr. José Carlos De Sousa Correia, the Honorary Consul of Portugal for the island of Curaçao, passed away. He was a valuable colleague in the corps since 2005 and a dear friend to many. On the 18^th of August 2018, Mr. Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General & Nobel Laureate passed away at the age of 80.During his life, he offered a bit of advice to all of us. I will give you a couple of quotes from him over the years. “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” “When economic conditions are difficult, people tend to be less generous and protect themselves; the question of solidarity doesn’t mean much to them at that time.” And one final quote: “More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.” Let us remember Mr. Kofi Annan by being excellent to each other and to the world, and to honor him with our own deeds of service to others. May his words inspire you to take action and to bring some light in the dark life of our fellow human beings.

Ladies and Gentlemen! I am delighted to announce this is our fourth consecutive edition of our Speech Contest. We ask students from many of the schools in Curaçao to submit speeches based on one of two topics; this year’s topics:

• How should Curaçao address the effects of climate change with regards to its economy?
• How would you improve the quality of education on Curaçao in order to ensure the most adapted workforce of tomorrow?

We received 42 speeches from various schools: Kolegio Alejandro Paula (KAP), Radulphus College, Maria Immaculata Lyceum (MIL), Albert Schweitzer, Vespucci and the International School of Curaçao. The speeches were then carefully read by the Board of the Consular Corps. After much deliberation, we named the three finalists who will soon read their speeches out loud: Aron Kibbelaar (Vespucci), Rianthe Angela (MIL) and Gudr Al Ayouby (ISC). The President of Parliament, Mr. William Millerson, has agreed to chair today’s jury. The jury will judge the three presentations, based on content, writing skill, and presentation, and will announce the winner, who will receive our grand prize: a check for the amount ofNAf1,000.The prize is generously sponsored by the Child First Foundation, represented here today by its Chairman Mr. Chris Peterson. Thank you for such a great gift. What do you and I, and all other people in the Caribbean region have in common? That we all probably, just like all other people on earth, are descended from a people that lived in Africa in a far past. Thus considered, we are all brothers and sisters. One big family, one big community, but not as closely and not as strongly connected as many of us would like it to be. In the course of history, differences have increased. Differences, for example, in appearance, in color, in language, in religion, in culture, in education, in prosperity etc. And with these differences, contradictions arose: between rich and poor, religious and non-religious, developed and underdeveloped, and, at an especially sad moment in history, also between slave and master, and between black and white. It is especially these contradictions that have left deep scars throughout history. The consequences are still visible today. At various moments in history attempts have been made to protect people against the arbitrariness of others. And time and again there have been people and movements that tried to uphold the intrinsic value and dignity of each individual as a basic principle. After the horrors of World War II, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unanimously. Unfortunately, even today earth is for too many a bad place to live. I’m not sure how to best address all the issues, but we have to start somewhere. If we start here, in Curaçao, I believe we need a shared vision and shared goals. There are thousands in Curacao who are poorly housed, who have hardly any income or none at all. They have no money to give their children food to eat at school. They might be addicted to drugs. We are reading in the paper about burglaries, robberies, organized crime and corruption reaching deep into society. And don’t forget the youth unemployment of about 35%. We encourage the development of plans and ideas to tackle these and other problems. Where do we want Curacao to be in 10, 25, and 50 years? What is our future vision? We all need to be thinking about this and coming up with proposals. The interests of the population should be at the forefront. We have to start thinking ‘large’. All forces must be pooled. And we need an integral approach: the economy, social circumstances, the environment, culture and so on, are more associated with each other than is sometimes imagined. We ought to start doing something soon. After all, we have enormous prosperity in Curacao as well as grinding poverty. There are dangers in the latter: increasing instability, a dysfunctional society and increasing political and social contrasts, but there are great opportunities in the former. Each day could be a defining moment in history. But we have to act, act together, and act soon! I conclude with a quote from chapter 24 of the book by Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching.[1] The quote is about 2400 years old: “Those who are on tiptoes cannot stand Those who straddle cannot walk Those who flaunt themselves are not clear Those who presume themselves are not distinguished Those who praise themselves have no merit Those who boast about themselves do not last” ————————- [1]     http://www.taoism.net, Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths in 2006. ——————— Photography by the Parlamento di Kòrsou

Ambassador of Czech Republic H.E. Mrs Jana Reinišová and Ambassador of Slovakia H.E. Mr.  Roman Buzek. Concert 100 Anniversary of Czechoslovakia.

Concert to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of Czechoslovakia

By Tereza Neuwirthova. On October 30th, 2018, the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in The Hague organised a classical music concert in order to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia. The concert took place in the church De Kloosterkerk in The Hague, and started at 7pm. The ceremony initiated with the national anthems of both the Czech and the Slovak Republic, after which the ambassador of the Czech Republic H.E. Ms. Jana Reinisová and the ambassador of   the Slovak Republic H.E. Mr. Roman Buzek gave an opening speech, in which they greeted the guests, as well as recounted the joint history of the two countries. For additional Roy Strik’s pictures, please open the link below: https://www.flickr.com/photos/109407424@N02/albums/72157703222342285

Czechoslovakia, which was established on October 28th 1918 was one of the many countries that formerly formed the Austro-Hungarian empire and that became sovereign after the First World War. The leading figures in the process of establishment, whose names were also mentioned in the ambassadors’ speech, were Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who subsequently became the first president of the country. Czechoslovakia went through several stages and regimes in the course of its history, starting its journey as a democratic country, later it was forced to split, and after the Second World War Czechoslovakia became a part of the Eastern Bloc with the communist regime. The Velvet Revolution, which took place in 1989, was a non-violent transition of Czechoslovakia into a parliamentary republic, and it restored democracy in the country after 41 years. On January 1st, 1993, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved into the Slovak and the Czech Republic, and the countries keep close relations ever since.

Both ambassadors have pointed to the shared values and history of these two countries, and for the future wished for many more years of cooperation and close partnership.

The concert was performed by the duet Miroslav Ambroš and Zuzana Ambrošová, who played violin and piano, respectively. Both are appraised and desired players with combined Slovak and Czech backgrounds that have been invited to many international festivals and competitions. During the concert, Mr. Ambroš was using a very rare instrument that was made by an Italian violinmaker in 1734. The duet played together 13 pieces from various Slovak and Czech composers, whereby they opened the concert with Antonín Dvořák’s Romantic Pieces. The concert continued with compositions by the well-known classical Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and the equally famous Slovak composer Eugen Suchoň, as well as contemporary pieces by the Slovak Peter Breiner, and the Czech Sylvie Bodorová. The concert was a great success among the audience, and the duet received a long-lasting standing ovation, which was followed by a short additional piece played by Mr. Ambroš on his violin. After the concert, the representatives of the Masaryk’s institute of The Netherlands presented the book Samen op de ‘laan van Europa’ written by Pieter J. Goedhart and Jan C. Henneman, which depicts the 100 years of the Slovak-Czech-Dutch relations. The book also portrays the traces of Slovaks and Czechs in various Dutch cities such as Rotterdam or Naarden.

Hundreds attended the concert; among the audience ambassadors from every continent, heads of international organizations, judges, politicians, academics, Slovaks and Czechs and Dutch friends of both countries. Afterwards, the refreshments, which consisted of traditional delicacies of both the Slovak and Czech cuisines accompanied by local wines, were served to the guests. This concert was a special celebration to mark a very important anniversary for both of the two countries, and the ongoing partnership and close relations of Slovakia and the Czech Republic could be seen in many constituents of this pleasurable evening. The future collaboration of the countries that was introduced as a wish by the Slovak and Czech ambassadors will unambiguously take place.