On the picture Jan Dop and Rainier Russell. On 22 September 2016, Russell Advocaten hosted an interactive seminar for Embassies and Consulates in the Netherlands. The meeting was a great success and attended by many different Embassies. The seminar consisted of three parallel workshops on the most important topics pertaining to international diplomatic missions in The Netherlands, namely:

• Employment Law
• Real Estate (buying, selling, investments, permits)
• Dealing with the Dutch – Investment in the Netherlands

Using practical examples, including cases presented by the participants, the specialist lawyers of Russell Advocaten identified key issues of every topic that Embassies and companies of the home country should be aware of to prevent problems. Russell Advocaten has served as trusted advisor to many Embassies, Consulates, diplomats, expats and companies from the home country over the past decades (www.embassydesk.nl). The special Embassy desk at Russell Advocaten handles a. o. cases pertaining to employment, labour and dismissal, real estate (Residence/Embassy), immigration, commercial contracts, diplomatic immunity and diplomatic inviolability. In case you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Jan Dop (Partner/Head of Embassy Desk) at embassydesk@russell.nl. Photography by Kim Vermaat.

The Embassy of Romania in the Netherlands organised the photo-documentary exhibition “Righteous Among Nations”, hosted by The Hague City Hall. The occasion of the event is Romania’s Chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. H.E. Ms Brânduşa Predescu, Ambassador of Romania to the Netherlands, invited diplomats and other honourable guests for the opening of the exhibition, followed by a reception on 5 October 2016. Ambassador Predescu, welcomed the honourable guests, and spoke about the black page in our history that is the Holocaust. A brief quotation of the Ambassador’s address follows. “The Holocaust is part of the history of Europe and Romania. It is a part of the history of mentalities, policies and practices that negatively marked civilization and modernization and showed its confines. The tragedy of the Jews of Romania is a black page in the history of Romania during the period 1938-1944. The Holocaust is unique and must be recognized its appropriate value in education. It symbolizes the supreme Evil in our times because of the way in which plans for mass extermination of an ethnic community were designed and implemented for the first time using industrial means. In the city of peace and justice, the only ingredients that bring out the best in us, humans, namely humanity, tolerance, generosity and lack of fear, we invite you to walk with us through these individual stories about humanity, about people helping people. We invite you to remember what cannot be forgotten and what should never be repeated.” The Ambassadors speech was followed by words by Mrs. Nira Staretz, the cultural attaché of the Embassy of Israel in The Hague and Mr. Floris van Dijk, member of the Dutch delegation to the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance. Mrs. Staretz mentioned the importance of teaching our children what happened, so that this should never happen again. Mr. Floris van Dijk spoke about the difficulty of facing your own past and the importance of fact finding and transparency, which will help to understand. The exhibition features many stories, including that of Constantin Karadja, a Romanian diplomat born in The Hague, who saved over 51.000 Jewish lives. During his research Mr. Van Dijk found the original birth certificate of Constantin Karadja in the archives of The Hague. The Romanian Ambassador received copies of the original birth certificate of Constantin Karadja, and the birth and death certificate of his older brother as a gift. Upon receiving this gift Ambassador Brânduşa Predescu expressed gratitude. “This gift is more important than attendants can imagine. Karadja is a mythical legend. He represents a stepping stone in diplomatic education. He is the composer of the one and only bible of diplomacy. We are very grateful for this gift, which will be placed in the diplomatic archive in Bucharest.” The ceremony was followed by a reception, where the honourable guests had the pleasure of tasting Romanian wines. Romania is chairman of the International Holocaust Remembrance Allicance (IHRA) from March 2016 to March 2017, more information upon this subject can be found here: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/about-us/chairmanship More information about Constantin Karadja can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Karadja  

License to Fill..    On the picture Mrs. Middori Inomata and the Ambassador of Japan H.E. Hiroshi Inomata, Ms Maja Steenwijk, Ambassador of Indonesia H.E. Mr. I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja and Mrs. Rusdijana Puja, Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. J. S. Mukul, Ambassador of Servia   H.E. Mr. Petar Vico, The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Mr. Aldo Cavalli, Mrs. Mita Mukul with their daughter, Ambassador of Ukraine H.E. Olexander Horin and Mrs. Natallia Tymoshenko, Ambassador Panama H.E. Willys del Valle Mrs. Tatiana Delvalle and daughter Daniella. Also Ambassador of Bolivia H.E. Eduardo Roddriguez Veltze, Ambassador of Azerbaijdjan H.E. Mr. Mir-Hamza Efendiyev and son. By Maja Steenwijk. Our trip to the Heineken Brewery in Zoeterwoude was a great experience for many ambassadors who enjoyed the trip. Upon arrival in the Brewhouse we were met by the Master Brewer of Heineken who is globally responsible for the taste of Heineken beers and came over from Italy specially for the group of ambassadors. After expending all day with us he departed to Argentina in the evening. The ingredients are: hop, barley malt, brew water and yeast is added afterwards to get alcohol,  co-2 and the aroma’s. The main brewery are normally producing Heineken, Amstel and several brand beers. The capacity of the brewery is 13,5 million hectoliter with a production per hour of

• 700.000    bottles
• 90.000    cans
• 48.000    draughtkegs
• 1.000   kegs ( 3- 50 liter)

The Central Control Room is the place where they control the brewing process. In the bottling halls that we visited about 60 to 70 % of the production is destined for export. Upon leaving the ambassadors received a very nice present and the most important thing is that they have seen the making of….Heineken.    

Mr Sartaj Aziz and Federica Mogherini. Picture by EU. 4 October 2016, Brussels: In the sidelines of the Brussels Summit on Afghanistan, The Honourable Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs (de facto Foreign Minister), visited Brussels from 3 to 6 October 2016 for the third round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. 

Mr Aziz had the opportunity to be accompanied by Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi to meet high ranking EU and NATO officials including the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Commissioner Federica Mogherini.  For further information: Mission of Pakistan to the EU, Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg (HE Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi): http://embassyofpakistan.be/site/ Adviser to the PM on Foreign Affairs (Mr Saraj Aziz): http://www.mofa.gov.pk/content.php?pageID=adviser