By Dr. Huub Ruel, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences – Zwolle

A trade mission is a key instrument in today’s commercial diplomacy. National and local governments and business associations initiate and organise trade missions in order to support businesses gaining access to new markets abroad. Embassies are very often involved in trade missions as they help to provide the networks to arrange match-making and business partner search, and visiting the home country embassy of a target country is usually part of the program. Commercial diplomats can help home country businesses to overcome barriers in doing business in the trade mission target country.

However, how effective a trade mission is still remains a bit of a mystery. Governments like to claim that trade missions boost a country’s exports, but research on this issue is not overwhelmingly convincing. Studies do show that trade missions are indeed an effective instrument for companies to expand internationally and explore new markets. They are a useful way to support individual companies to cross national borders and to invite foreign investors to the home country.

Commercial diplomats play a crucial role in organizing effective trade missions, but they face a number of challenges. In one of the studies conducted by the international business research group at Windesheim University, nineteen commercial diplomats from different OECD countries were interviewed, and all were involved in organizing trade missions.

They expressed that evaluating the effectiveness of trade missions is complicated. The benefits perceived by participating firms are diverse, and expressing them in dollars, euros, or other quantifiable terms is difficult. The commercial diplomats interviewed try to do so, but end up only with subjective outcomes most of the time.

Another issue that arose from the interviews was the follow-up of trade missions. Commercial diplomats lack the resources to actively monitor the progress of participating firms in terms of contracts, deals and agreements.

Some commercial diplomats interviewed also suggested that it could be beneficial to organize joint trade missions by several countries. For example, EU countries could combine their efforts and visit a target country together. Rather than competing, they could look for complementory goals.

But what does the future of trade missions look like? Are they still relevant in a world economy that is becoming more and more digital, and as a result may be percieved as ‘flat’? Or has this digitization only shown how culturally diverse and complex the world is? Will trade missions become even more important for that reason as a physical and real-life experience for business to explore potential new markets?

In a new study currently being carried out by the international business research group at Windesheim University, we are trying to find answers to these kinds of questions. In another study, we are developing a new format for trade missions that pays more attention to the preparation of participating firms and to follow-up.

Trade missions can be a great opportunity for business representatives to explore foreign markets, but are a challenge for commercial diplomats to provide formats that work. I will keep you posted!

Sochi the war against the environment

The Sochi Olympic Games are over and it is about time to start considering their controversial environmental heritage. By Antoine Duval, Senior Researcher at the Asser Institute  in The Hague At the beginning there was a lie. The Organizing Committee for Sochi promised “to apply a sustainable management system to the development of facilities and operations, sustainable design principles in construction and improved measures for waste collection, processing and disposal.” However, confronted with the contradictory evidence, it is no longer possible to even confer the slightest credibility to what should be seen as a misleading and hypocritical statement. Moreover, this is not the story of an unforeseen development; the evaluation commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself had highlighted that the organization of the Winter Games in Sochi would be potentially destructive for the environment. NGOs have not ceased in pointing out the total neglect for environmental concerns at Sochi’s construction sites. But, the IOC has turned a deaf ear to the many SOS’s sent out by environmental organizations. Organized irresponsibility at the IOC The German sociologist Ulrich Beck has developed, in his work on the Risk Society, the concept of organized irresponsibility to qualify the fact that we live in a society where nobody seems to be held accountable for the (environmental) risks one gives rise to. This concept fits well the attitude of the IOC. Here, we have an institution that calls into being every second year a gargantuan sporting event producing massive strains on the environment, without considering itself in any way responsible. It is only by submitting the IOC to the close scrutiny of the global public sphere that it might be coerced into enforcing its own values and principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter. A modest proposal: take the Olympic Charter Seriously! This implies that the values and principles highlighted as fundamental by the Olympic Charter, particularly in its preamble (one thinks also, in the context of Sochi, of the principle of non-discrimination), be considered as such in the IOC’s administrative practice. This would mean for example that the environmental criterion, which is nowadays allocated little weight, should be upgraded and considered a fundamental pillar in the evaluation process of the candidate cities. In addition to that, such an ex ante mechanism could be bundled in with binding commitments enforced by independent third-parties (environmental NGOs) that could be integrated into the existing ex post monitoring mechanisms used to oversee the organization of the games (e.g. the host-city contract). Thus, the IOC’s blackmailing on financial conditions and infrastructural investments, could be turned into a “whitemailing” forcing the host city to adopt certain environmental and human rights standards under the shadow of withdrawing the Games. Indeed, the IOC is far from being deprived of means to enforce environmental and human rights standards. To this end, it only needs to give flesh to those fundamental principles anchored in the suave wording of the Olympic Charter.

by Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland Justice (Judge) in the Court of Appeal and Special Advisor International Affairs of the Municipality of The Hague The Nucleair Security Summit 2014 in The Hague on March 24 and 25 was in many ways a success. Over fifty world leaders, together with 5.000 delegates and 3.000 journalists made The Hague for two days world news. For a lot of you these must have been very busy days, with your Head of State, Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs here. The central person was of course US-President Obama, the man of the initiative for the four summits on nucleair security, of which this was the third one. Not only the President of the USA, but also a warm person and nice guest with his charming conclusion: ‘It was truly gezellig’. For those who do not know the Dutch word ‘gezellig’: it is so typically Dutch, that I am sorry not to be able to translate it.  It is different from and more than ‘cozy’, ‘nice’ etc. It was a race against the clock who would be first in The Hague: President Obama or the new US-ambassador H.E. Mr. Timothy Broas, but at last the ambassador ‘won’. He presented his credentials to the King only five days before the Presidents arrival.  The Hague is glad that there is now –after several years without one- a new US-ambassador, who by the way also turned 60 in the few days between the King and the President. Congratulations with all this, Mr Broas ! H.E. Mr. Timothy Broas had previously been an attorney at law all his life. So was I during almost thirty years (as well as President of the Bar Association), so welcome him as a former colleague as well. More good news from the US embassy: at last the building of a new embassy between The Hague and Wassenaar started. In a few years H.E. Mr. Broas will open it, we hope. And, yes, that will be also ‘truly gezellig’. a.beelaerts@planet.nl  

Because of his international background and his writing antics Eelco Dykstra has joined the editorial staff of Diplomat Magazine and writes a monthly column called “A smile and a thought…” The columns put a playful spotlight on the interface between the Dutch and the International Community it hosts. Yes, his musings may appear at times to be mildly provocative at first sight but they are first and foremost playful – with a little irony thrown in here and there… You be the judge! His columns are intended to give you ‘a smile and a thought’. A smile because perhaps you hadn’t quite looked at something that way and a thought because the column may leave you wondering… The National Security Summit (NSS) 2014 is over. Time for a playfully-provocative look back at an event in The Hague which brought 58 world leaders together with 3000 journalists, 5000 delegation members and 13,000 (!) policemen. The organizers of the NSS 2014 mentioned on their website the following reasons why the event would benefit the Dutch public: “a safer world and therefore a safer Netherlands; confirmation of the role we fulfill internationally; positioning of the Netherlands in general and as a country of peace, justice and security in particular; positioning of The Hague as an international city of peace and justice.” The venue of the Summit, the World Forum, was completely blocked off, disconnected from everyday life and massive security measures were in place throughout The Hague. The program and protocol left little room for public engagement or participation. This may explain why the NSS 2014 failed to inspire public enthusiasm. Aside from the many motorcades with police escort, downtown The Hague was quieter than even on a Sunday morning. The Dutch media reported live from the Summit, including covering the visit by the US President to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and an introductory video extravaganza at the Summit itself which positioned the Netherlands and The Hague as… what exactly? Clearly in the video message emphasis was placed on historic events and the greatness of the Dutch (culture). Reactions were mixed, as always. Some critics thought it was shameless to highlight the achievements of the Dutch Arts & Culture in a time that the government has singled out arts and culture for severe cost-cutting measures. Yes, the video show brought a smile from Obama and an applauding Angela Merkel could be seen, yet what these reactions really meant could still be open for discussion. Was this shameless self-promotion by the Dutch or did the video message create the right amount of the ‘feel-good’ sentiment necessary for a successful Summit? Fact is that the video extravaganza, complete with choreography, music and singing, looked like a mini-version of the kind of visual spectacle we normally associate with opening ceremonies of events like the Olympic Games. Olympic Games such as those in London in 2012 did raise the profile of the United Kingdom and that of the City of London. But, aside from the inevitable professional security forces, also around 70,000 (!) volunteers were drafted from the public at large. So, of course there was a lot of public engagement, participation and enthusiasm. Hmm, let me mull this one over for a minute… Number of volunteers at the London Olympics: 70,000 Number of volunteers at the NSS 2014: Back to thinking about the tight security measures that surrounded the NSS 2014 in The Hague. What do you think: perhaps involving large numbers of the public as volunteers enhances the security of large scale events? Could it works as deterrent when the masses send out a strong signal along the lines of: “Don’t mess with this event because it is also our party – and not just a government thing”? I don’t know; you tell me. Oh yes, you might have observed that the header of this column reads ‘National’ Security Summit; of course this is an error, it should have read ‘Nuclear’.    

By Bonnie Klap, Editor in Chief For the last couple of weeks the news in The Hague was justly and understandably  dominated by the NSS, the Nuclear Security Summit,  and consequently the large influx of world leaders into the City of Peace and Justice, amongst whom US President Obama. Needless to say these two days created a lot of excitement among the press and general public. With this important and successful summit behind us, allow me to share with  you another topic related to The Hague, which is perhaps not equally important, but certainly deserves its fair share of attention as well. Probably unknown to most of you the city of The Hague has chosen the organization ‘Save the Children’ as its Charity of the year 2014.Why am I telling you this? There are two reasons for me to do so. First and foremost I truly believe that our children are the future and that they deserve to be protected. The independent international organization ‘Save the children,’ which was founded in 1919 and has 14,000 professionals working in 120 different countries worldwide,  does exactly that. It strives to protect  all children in the ages from 0 to 18 years, regardless of the child’s religion, gender, race, skin color, nationality or political preference. Save the children goes about this by providing medical care, quality education and better living conditions. The second reason why I am mentioning this The Hague charity is because I recently had a most inspiring conversation with a lady called Wendy Kweens, who is a Project Manager for  Save the children in The Netherlands. Ms. Kweens is also eager to bring The Hague’s 2014 charity to the attention of the diplomatic and international community in The Hague. As she tells me  their motto is: ‘do or donate something,’ encouraging people to start their own fundraiser with the children as the beneficiaries. Perhaps we can all think of a way to contribute in a small ( or big) way. After all, the NSS was meant to make the world a safer and  better place. Don’t children, wherever they live, deserve the best possible living conditions as well?  

Have you ever heard of the expression “Banks give you an umbrella when the sun is shining and when it rains they are taking it away.”? You must have heard of it. For me it brings a bitter smile on my face, because I know it is true. I have lived through it by experience – I had numerous clients over my 16 years of experience as real estate agent, who went through this rainy period in their lives. And each time it is very dramatic on a personal level. As a professional I stay cool and say and do the right things at the right time. However, in my heart I know that compassion is only a patch on a deep financial wound. Although, I must admit that there is some good news concerning the residential housing market. The property prices finally stabilized! These are magic words in everybody’s ears who own properties.  Residential property prices were down with just 0.5% in January 2014, compared with a year earlier. Exactly this is showing that property prices have now stabilized, says the CBS (The National Statistics Office) last week. Month on month, there was a slight rise of 0.4%. However, one of every five homes that are sold, are being sold with a loss. This has been a serious development and it might give you better insights in the saying “When it rains – it pours!”.  In those cases the owners have received a lot less than what they have paid for.  This has been published beginning of February 2014 by the NOS based on research of the ground-book (Kadaster).  The result of the research was as such, 17.913 residences were sold for less than they were bought for. That is 40% less than in 2012. The damage is quiet big. 20% of all properties which were sold with a loss, the damage was bigger than € 40.000. Usually people who are selling their properties are involved in a divorce and sometimes the damage is even over € 100.000, leaving the parties with a huge debt. Not everybody is so lucky that they can go to a real estate agent and agree on a price and conditions to sell their home.  There are plenty of people how HAVE TO sell their residences. In 2013 this has risen by 27% compared to 2012. According to the Foundation of Housing (Stichting Waarborgfonds Eigen Woning) the direct increase was caused by the price drop, the growth of unemployment and the number of divorces. The average loss per home ran in 2013 up by 11% until about € 38.877. To give you a clear picture on forced homes sales over the past 5 years: 2009 = 763 homes 2010 = 1.336 homes 2011 = 2.005 homes 2012 = 3.552 homes and in 2013 = 4.522 homes. The banks really don’t like to sell homes off through an auction and that has 2 selfish reasons. One is that they are suffering from image-loss. Yes, you heard me – image-loss! We are not talking about the image of the poor sod who is just about to loose his home, his base, his safety heaven – we are really talking about The image of the bank. And then of course is the financial point, which will be written off in the books as a loss. The second reason is that an auction provides a higher loss (much more over €20.000) than a private sale through a real estate agent. Despite the fact that the housing market is recovering this year, even more people will have to face a forced sell of their properties. The expected numbers will raise in 2014 from 5.000 to 55.000 according to Mr. Karel Schiffer, Director of the Foundation Guarantee Fund Own Properties (Stichting Waarborfonds Eigen Woning; WEW). He also stated “We hope that the recovery in the housing market continues, however, we are still taking into account that this year the prices might drop further. It is a very exciting year.” Personally, I think Mr K. Schiffer is taking a canon to shoot a mosquito. This can go into all directions. There is a big difference between 5.000 and 5.500. My conclusion, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.