By H.E. Mr Abdalla Hamdan Mohammed Ahmed Alnaqbi, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.   Under the direction of President H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the cabinet of the United Arab Emirates approved the naming of 2015 The Year of Innovation in a special meeting convened on 30 November 2014. His Highness Sheikh Khalifa stressed that the UAE is giving the utmost priority to innovate, saying, “We live today in a world witnessing rapid changes and continuous developments, full of opportunities, discoveries and invention. Announcing 2015 as the Year of Innovation comes to support federal government efforts, attract national skills, increase distinguished research, as well as boost efforts to build a national cadre who are able to lead our future in this field towards more progress, prosperity and innovation.” The declaration follows the launch of the National Innovation Strategy in October 2014, by H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice president and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. The strategy aims to make the Emirates the most innovative country in the world by 2021. Focusing on seven sectors of the economy — renewable energy, transport, education, health, technology, water and space — the National Innovation Strategy involves 30 initiatives to be completed within three years, including new legislation, innovation incubators, investment in specialized skills, private-sector incentives, international research partnerships, and an innovation drive within the government. After launching the strategy last year, H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said, “Today, more than any other time, we need to boost innovation among young people, build nurturing environments in our society, and encourage our schools and universities to equip our youth with skills in research and discovery methodologies. We want our public and private sectors to explore new horizons to develop our economy. Innovation is our only way to build a great history of the UAE. The future will be for those who adopt innovation.” Current annual investment in innovation is Dhs14 billion (approximately $4 billion), of which Dhs7 billion goes to research and development. Even so, under the new initiative, spending on innovation will increase significantly. This may seem ambitious, but that is nothing new for a nation renowned for its daring projects and home to the richest city in the world, Abu Dhabi. “The UAE is already the most innovative Arab nation. Our target is to be among the most innovative nations in the world. The competitiveness race demands a constant flow of new ideas, as well as innovative leadership using different methods and tools to direct the change,” said Sheikh Mohammed. Thus far, the UAE’s booming economy has been reliant on petroleum products: oil-related activities accounted for 49.38% of its total GDP in 2009. To develop the country, the UAE has spent billions of dollars from oil income on infrastructure and construction. Much of this development has been intangible, but many projects have contributed to the UAE’s worldwide reputation for daring greatly: Khalifa Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, Ski Dubai, a state-of-the-art indoor ski slope, the man-made Palm Islands and World Islands, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and other spectacular structures. Yet the leadership of the UAE is well aware of the unsustainability of depending on one source of national income. With the infrastructure and urban environments now largely completed, the UAE has developed the Vision 2021 plan to diversify the economy by 2021 through expansion of a number of new industries. Vision 2021 aims to “transform the UAE economy into a model where growth is driven by knowledge and innovation.” The focus on cultivating innovation — the ability to achieve change that creates a new dimension of performance — is meant to support this economic diversification, and cultural barriers to innovation, such as fear of failure and an aversion to taking risks, are starting to diminish in the UAE. According to research, 71% of UAE millennials (those 35 years old or younger) currently have entrepreneurial aspirations. Another essential element of an innovative ecosystem is fostering and supporting these young entrepreneurs, accomplished in the UAE via more than 10 incubators and accelerators, a substantial increase from the 3 active in 2008. These include in5 (in Dubai Internet City), Turn8 (by DP World), i360 accelerator, Silicon Oasis Founders, SeedStartup, Endeavor, twofour54’s Ibtikar, afkar.me, the First Steps Business Center, and the Dubai SME (small-to-medium enterprises) Business Incubation Center. These incubators and accelerators offer a variety of mentorship and business support services for UAE nationals and immigrants alike. SeedStartup, for example, brings international start-ups to a three-month acceleration programme held in Dubai. The government has undertaken many initiatives to support the funding of innovation. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority´s ICT Fund aims to drive the country’s ICT sector by providing R&D funding, scholarships for students of ICT engineering programmes, and support for incubators. Additionally, the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (with approximately $550 million in capital) aims to develop local SME´s in Abu Dhabi by providing microfinance and start-up loans and by supporting entrepreneurs with training programmes. Meanwhile, the government continues to revise economic policies and the institutional framework to empower the private sector and to strengthen foreign investment. One recently revised policy is a new law opening the door for innovation-based companies operating in specific activities defined under the law to benefit from the 100% ownership, tax-free, and other benefits regulated by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone. The establishment of free zones specially tailored for innovation-based companies that invest heavily in research and development activities in both the public and private sectors is a vital step in fostering innovation goal attracting SMEs from all over the world. In our pursuit of international partnerships in support of innovation, the UAE Embassy in The Hague works with our Dutch counterpart to strengthen our ties and explore every possibility for collaboration. One cooperative project is Gas Storage Bergermeer, a collaboration between UAE Energy Company TAQA and Royal Dutch Shell, which opened in April and is Europe’s largest open access gas storage, contributing to security of supply, the energy transition, and lower energy prices for the people of Northwest Europe. For 2015, we are exploring ways to increase our cooperation. The Netherlands is renowned for its educational institutes that focus on innovation, such as Wageningen University and TU Delft. To learn from their experience and reputable research, we invite the possibility for future collaboration in pursuit of innovation in the sectors of agriculture, technology and technological research with these institutes. In addition, we are working with multiple Dutch ministries and institutes to reach out to Dutch SMEs to explore benefits and accessibility to the UAE market. We are determined not to leave any stone unturned as we explore possibilities for innovation in all sectors and we will continue to work with our Dutch and other international partners to achieve this goal.  

  By His Excellency Carlos Herrera Rodríguez, Ambassador of the Republic of Peru to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.   Having recently arrived in The Hague, people often ask me how I feel. I usually respond: at home. Perhaps I should be a little more explicit. To say “at home” in this case is a reference to the land of my birth, Arequipa. We Arequipeans tend to be insufferably proud. More so since one of our most illustrious fellow countrymen, Mario Vargas Llosa, was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature. We pass the time relating everything to our land, manifesting a very particular and regional pre-Copernican view of the world. That said, it seems especially disconcerting to compare The Hague and Arequipa. A horizontal landscape in permanent dialogue with the sea contrasting with a city built in the middle of the desert, hoisted to an altitude of nearly 2,400 meters, and surrounded by volcanoes that reach 6,000 meters. A climate marked by rain and humidity in contrast with blue sky and intense aridity the greater part of the year. Nevertheless, the resulting populations are similar. Austere, hardworking people who were forced to, and did, confront the challenges of nature. Paradoxically, a profusion of artists, category of the population known to be engaged in activities of dubious practicality, without which life would be painful if not unbearable. And, above all, the rule of Law. When one settles into a bench in the Plaza de Armas of Arequipa, at midday, the bright sun forces you to squint. That said, looking with your eyes half closed makes your vision more acute. The forms and the shadows acquire clearly defined shapes and borders. Reality is clearer. This implies that the concepts become clearer as well.     I like to imagine that it is as a result of this that among the Pleiades of illustrious men produced by the city; there are mathematicians and scientists of the highest caliber along with watercolorists and more than a few caricaturists. The same conceptual clarity is also a necessity in the creation and administration of the law, and Arequipa is recognized as the juridical capital of the country as a result of the contributions of illustrious personalities and the proliferation of magistrates, lawyers, “paper pushers” of all classes and levels. The city is the official seat of the Constitutional Tribunal of Peru, and 3 of its 7 members (including their President) are originally from Arequipa. In fact, one of the members of the Tribunal, Carlos Augusto Ramos Nuñez, has a thesis which is much less romantic and probably much more objective regarding the importance of Law in Arequipa: “Perhaps the abundance of lawyers and lawsuits in Arequipa can be explained by the preponderance of small rural landholders – a source of frequent judicial problems.” If Arequipa is the juridical capital of Peru, The Hague is that of the world. I can speculate about the reasons for this (similar to and at the same time different from Arequipa: in the romantic version, the Dutch light, changing as in the landscapes of Vermeer, or in a dramatic chiaroscuro of Rembrandt, illuminates and clarifies the range of human problems. Looking at the situation more objectively it is obvious that a people engaged in commercial relations around the world need a method to resolve disputes). The result is that the iconic image of this city is the Peace Palace, the seat of the International Court of Justice. In any case, in Peru, today, The Hague has gained a permanent place in the collective imaginary as source of justice in the world after the judgement of the International court of Justice on January 27^th, 2014 which resolved in a definitive and peaceful manner our maritime dispute with Chile. The name of “The Hague” has become a historic one for us; in the same way that cities and places all over the world identify themselves with great military victories or defeats. A fortunate and promising sign of the times. When, shortly after taking up my post, I visited the then President of the International Court of Justice, the Slovaque jurist Peter Tomka, I presented him with a Peruvian publication commemorating the judgement of January 27th. In one of the photographs, the imposing figure of Tomka reading this ICJ decision from a giant screen in the Plaza de Armas of Lima is watched by an expectant multitude as though it were a World Cup football match. Tomka was impressed and amused by the image. (He mentioned it anecdotally in a later public event). Following our meeting, he had the courtesy to offer me a guided tour of some of the halls in the Peace Palace. In one of those august chambers, among portraits of the distinguished jurists who had made their contribution to world peace, he showed me that of Don José Luis Bustamante y Rivero, Peruvian president between 1945 and 1948, and President of the International Court of Justice between 1967 and 1969. Did I mention that Don José Luis Bustamante y Rivero was born in Arequipa?  

  By Ambassador Batjargal Gunaajav, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the OSCE.   Mongolia became the Organization for Security Cooperation (OSCE)’s newest, 57^th participating State in November 2012, following eight years in the status of the Organization’s Asian Partner for Cooperation. Within a record short period of two and half years since its ascension Mongolia already faced the task of chairing the Organization’s Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) in the first trimester of 2015. In close cooperation and coordination with the OSCE Secretariat and the 2015 Serbian OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office, the Mongolian FSC Chairmanship was able to facilitate vigorous and frank exchange of ideas at the Forum and promote its role to enhance dialogue and cooperation in wide-ranging aspects of common security in the OSCE area and beyond. Stating that “the security of Europe and Asia are indivisible,” in his opening address of the Mongolian FSC Chairmanship on 20 January 2015 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, H.E. Lundeg Purevsuren, outlined the nation’s priorities focusing on the implementation of the decisions related to politico-military aspects of security adopted by the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel at the end of 2014. These included decisions on small arms and light weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition, countering terrorism, the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security and enhancing women’s role in conflict prevention. The key Chairmanship event was the Conference on OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security co-organized with the OSCE Conflict Prevention Center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 10-12 March 2015. The OSCE Code of Conduct, adopted in 1994, is a unique, norm-setting document and hailed as “hidden jewel” of the Organization in advancing confidence and security building among its participating States. Hosting this conference attended by senior diplomatic and military delegates from fellow participating States in Central Asia and Asian Partners for Cooperation was an honorable duty for Mongolia symbolizing the nation’s contribution in promoting the OSCE values and principles in its adjacent neighborhood. The Chairmanship coincided with a very dynamic and challenging period in the OSCE region; statements and discussions at the FSC plenary meetings featured intense exchange on facts and clear positions of participating States. The two highlights of the Security Dialogue series under Mongolian Chairmanship were the presentations of their countries’ vision of European security by Mr. Robert Bell, the Senior Defense Advisor to the U.S. Mission to NATO and Ambassador Alexander Grushko, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to NATO. During the Chairmanship and beyond, Mongolia strives to make a positive contribution to the Helsinki+40 process, in which participating States are charting the OSCE’s future as it approaches the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Mongolia’s engagement and leadership within the OSCE will continue throughout this year, most notably with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly fall meeting to be held in 16-18 September 2015 in Ulaanbaatar.                

On the picture, Ambassador Dr. Christoph Israng and OPCW Director General H. E. Ahmet Üzümcü.   By Ambassador Dr Christoph Israng, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the OPCW.   One hundred years ago in World War I, the German military command broke a taboo by ordering the first use of chemical weapons on a large scale near Ypres, Belgium. Unfortunately, other states followed this bad example not only in World War I, not only in Europe. In total, chemical weapons have killed far more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the past century, while more than 1 million people have been severely harmed by these terrible weapons. After 1945, immense stockpiles of chemical weapons were built up. Many still remember the tragic use of chemical weapons in the Middle East in the 1980s that claimed thousands of victims. With the end of the Cold War, the window of opportunity was finally open to reach an international agreement on banning chemical weapons all over the world. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that entered into force in 1997 was the right answer. It is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The parties’ main obligation under the convention is to prohibit the use and production of chemical weapons, as well as the destruction of all existing chemical weapons. Since the entering into force, 90 % of the declared 70,000 tonnes of chemical weapons have been destroyed – an incredibly large amount given that just one drop of Sarin would be enough to kill an adult. The CWC is indeed a success story. In fact, one could argue that the CWC is the most successful disarmament treaty in history as it has almost universal validity. 190 states have joined the convention so far. Moreover, it is backed by international verification.

For the Federal Republic of Germany, disarmament and non-proliferation have always been a top foreign policy priority. That is why Germany actively contributes to the CWC. This is not only shown by the existence of a separate Permanent Representation, which is one of the very few diplomatic missions in The Hague dealing exclusively with the OPCW. Here are just a few further examples of our contributions: Germany provided Russia with four industrial-size plants to destroy their chemical weapons in the last decade amounting to EUR 400 million. It is also contributing to several projects in the Near and Middle East. In addition, Germany engaged in the commemoration of Ypres by hosting a scientific conference and contributing to an exhibition at the OPCW. Furthermore, Germany has initiated the establishment of ethical guidelines for chemists, comparable with the Hippocratic Oath. Although almost all countries in the world have subscribed to the ban of chemical weapons, their threat is still present. Clearly, the fact that Syria joined the CWC in 2013 and was subsequently obliged to dismantle its chemical weapons programme is a success. However, there have been ongoing reports that chemicals such as chlorine are still used as chemical weapons, killing and injuring mainly innocent civilians. Even though chlorine is a common industrial chemical, its use as a weapon is banned under the CWC and absolutely unacceptable. It is essential that the use of these chemicals is investigated and the culprits held accountable for their actions. The Federal Republic of Germany contributed to the joint efforts of the OPCW family to end the threat posed by the Syrian chemical weapons programme by destroying more than 333 tonnes of residual products of mustard gas hydrolysate at GEKA in Munster, Germany. This operation was successfully completed in April 2015. Moreover, the German Armed Forces have run several safety training courses for OPCW inspectors. Germany has financed two projects to improve the protection and the treatment of civilian chemical weapons victims in Syria. Germany also contributed EUR 5 million to the OPCW Trust Fund to destroy the rest of Syria’s declared chemical weapons. With our contributions to a world free of chemical weapons, we are endeavouring to face up to our historical responsibility. Even if this has been a long and stony road, we are optimistic that we will achieve our aim and ban the threat of chemical weapons in this world once and for all. Further challenges remain, such as non-state actors and incapacitating agents. Therefore, we strongly endorse the efforts of the OPCW’s Director General Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü to advance the discussion on the organisation’s future. Germany will play an active role in this discussion.

By His Excellency Lambert Grijns – Ambassador for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV/AIDS at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.   Would you have ever guessed that a Ministry of Foreign Affairs works on issues such as maternal mortality and sexuality education? I certainly did not when I applied for diplomatic service. But whilst working as a diplomat in different countries in Asia, Sub-Sahara Africa and Latin America I came to understand how important it is that people, especially adolescents, can make informed decisions and have access to services when it comes to love, (sexual) relationships and pregnancy. So when I was asked to become the Ambassador for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and HIV/AIDS in 2013 I did not hesitate for a second. In our Dutch SRHR policy we focus on youth, on access to information, commodities and services as well as the promotion of rights (including for sexual minorities). In order to progress on these four goals we work with a variety of different actors; multilateral organizations, governments, civil-society organizations, companies and faith-based organizations. I think in this work it is crucial to recognize that there is no right or wrong. As a diplomat, I learned that to work effectively with others you have to be able to listen, to find a common language and to treat diverging views with respect. And to share what you are proud of: in my case the Dutch experiences with SRHR, resulting in one of the lowest rates of teenage pregnancies and abortions in the world. Another success I would like to share with you is about the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam in 2018. The Netherlands won the bid for this great event, which will bring more than 20,000 people to the Netherlands to discuss the future of the AIDS epidemic, including world leaders, pop stars and VIPs. We need their, and our, prominent and collective attention to keep HIV/AIDS high on the international agenda. The conference is a platform and an instrument. It cements our political commitment to women and girls in Southern Africa, who are especially vulnerable to HIV. The same applies to the status of key populations, such as sexual minorities, who primarily live in middle-income countries. The vulnerability of young girls and key populations has been on the Dutch agenda for some time. Most recently, during a high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS on April 9^th, here in The Hague. Minister Ploumen for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation discussed strategy with UNAIDS, the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Aids Funds, a prominent Dutch civil-society organization. Conclusions at the end of the day were ambivalent. Positive in the respect that the number of deaths has been greatly reduced, thanks to medication, education, testing and condom use. But also worrisome: still, every hour 30 people are newly infected with HIV, particularly teenage girls. Even in the Netherlands we see 1100 new cases of HIV every year. And some countries, for example in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, even face an increase in new infections, especially among key populations. Worldwide, adolescents are the only group amongst whom AIDS-related deaths are not declining and just one in four infected children and adolescents under the age of 15 years has access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. That is why it is so important that HIV/AIDS is kept high on the international agenda. If we want to bring a halt to new infections, we need strong political will and to work on a number of fronts simultaneously: treatment, care and prevention. This means making ARTs as affordable and widely available as possible and maintaining proper care for the people who have contracted HIV. But just as importantly, we should keep working on prevention. We cannot accept that people, especially young people, get sick- only to start treating them later in life. So yes, there is still so much to be done. I invite all of you to join us at AIDS2018 in Amsterdam and see how we can move forward further, together. And to join us in our work as a Ministry of Foreign Affairs.