By Roy Lie A Tjam On Tuesday 20 August a small group of Ambassadors accredited in The Hague went on a cycling tour in the vicinity of the Binnenhof, the seat of Parliament. Cycling is a good way to integrate into Dutch society it is a great pleasure, says Dr Alvaro Marcelo Moerzinger Pagani, Ambassador for the Oriental Republic of Uruguay to the Netherlands. “You will find bikes and motorcycles sharing the same lane, very unique.” Moezinger regularly uses his bike to get to the Embassy on Mauritskade Den Haag. Eduardo Ibarrola -Nicolin, Ambassador for the Federal Republic of Mexico uses his bike almost daily. He too sees the many benefits of cycling. He recounts “one day he was manoeuvred in a daring situation, being chased by an ambulance with wailing sirens” How relieved he was when he managed to make it to the pavement and clear the way for the ambulance. to proceed. The Ambassador for Israel, coordinator of the Cycling Diplomacy, relates “the environment in the Netherlands in general and The Hague is particular is conducive for cycling. The Netherlands invests in maintaining cycling paths and the promotion of the use of bikes Cycling unites, you interact with people you actually don’t know, and it also gives you peace of mind”. “I was elated when I learned of my posting to The Hague, My family and I were once here on a five day biking excursion. It was such a wonderful adventure, I had wanted to come back for a longer period to do some more biking. Here I am, Ambassador for Israel to the Netherlands. I am making strives to appreciate my rides to the full”. The Hague is an ideal place for biking, “lushly green cycling paths. The Hague is maybe Europe’s greenest city. I was once cycling and suddenly my phone rang, I picked it up and ask the caller to bear with me until I safely get off my bike. It was a Dutch MP, he was amazed to hear\know that an Ambassador was cycling in The Hague. Israel could learn from Holland, we are not that far as yet when it comes to the using of bikes” “I have come to learn the dos and don’ts of cycling in the city. The tram rails are phenomena to reckon with. My wife was once launched and ended up with a fractured rib. I truly enjoyed today’ ride, it was good to be with my confreres Ambassadors and others. I highly recommend biking to my fellow ambassadors and diplomats to take up biking during their tenure in The   Hague”. On the pictures: Ambassadors of Uruguay, Mexico, Israel, Mr. Daniel Poot from ABN-AMRO, Notary Robert Buurke, a distinguished judge from the Municipality of  The Hague, Jhr Mr. Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland and diplomats.

 Interview with His Excellency Pierre MÉNAT, Ambassador of France to the Netherlands By Bonnie Klap. Unsurprisingly for a country known  for its elegance and style, the residence of the French Ambassador to The Netherlands, Mr. Pierre Ménat, exudes exactly that: stunning architecture, coupled with unmatched elegance.  Ambassador Ménat welcomes us in his magnificent reception room and bravely starts off the interview in Dutch. He soon switches to English, admitting he is not yet sufficiently fluent in Dutch, but is in the process of learning to speak Dutch. “I find it my duty to  learn the language of the country  where I  am posted as Ambassador. I did so in Romania and Poland, where I was able to speak Polish with the President of Poland. My posting in Tunisia was a bit too short to thoroughly learn how to speak Arabic.  Now I am learning Dutch,” he tells us. Ambassador Ménat joined the Foreign Service in 1982. He  graduated from the prestigious Ecole Nationale D’Administration –  “ENA”-  the well known   institution,  which has educated France’s   top-  politicians, diplomats and  business people for generations. We  ask Ambassador Ménat which factors contributed to the fame of France as a country. “ Until the 20th century we were a major global power. We had a well developed agriculture and a strong industry, such as textiles and trains. We also had a strong army – by the way  we remain today the first military power on the continent – The older industries, such as cars and airplanes are declining somewhat, but newer industries are now developing, such as the space-industry and technology. Times change and these days the younger generation in France is much more mobile. As for the trade between France and The Netherlands, the numbers are enormous and account for  EUR 40 billion annually, with The Netherlands exporting EUR 22 billion  worth of goods to France and France exporting  EUR 18 billion worth of goods, such as cars and pharmaceuticals,  to The Netherlands.  For example 20% of all cars in The Netherlands are French. France also imports a great deal of gas from The Netherlands, ” the Ambassador tells us. After having lived and worked in various countries, such as the US, Romania, Poland and Tunisia, we ask Ambassador Ménat what his thoughts are on The Netherlands and The Hague in particular,  now that he has been living here for almost two years. Like many of his fellow Ambassadors, he has praising words for The Netherlands. “The Netherlands is a nice place to live. I am in Amsterdam almost weekly, where I usually combine work and leisure activities. The French consulate is in Amsterdam, as is the French Institute. I like the Concertgebouw. In my spare time I jog, visit theatres and museums, there are a lot of things to do here,” the Ambassador tells us. As the interview draws to an end, we ask His Excellency to share a parting message with us. What would he like to tell the readers about France? “I know France has a certain image of beautiful fashion, good wines, perfumes and interesting culture and that is good,  but I would also like to draw the attention to another aspect of our economic activities, such as our space-industry and  our new technologies. In short, I would like France to be perceived as the modern nation that we are,” the Ambassador concludes. Picture: Ambassador Pierre Ménat and Mrs. Ankie Broekers-Knol, President of the Dutch Senate. This interview is an abbreviated version of the  interview to be published in the Wassenaarse Krant. 

By Dr. Jose M. Teran, Ambassador of Panama. Guided by their willingness to promote the ties of friendship between their two countries, widen horizons of mutual cooperation, and support the cause of international peace and security, the Republics of Kosovo and Panama have decided to establish diplomatic relations to strengthen fruitful cooperation in political, economic, trade, technical and cultural spheres and in other fields of mutual interest, and responding to the aspirations of the two countries for friendly relations and contacts, as stated in the Joint Communiqué signed in Panama on August 27, 2013 by Ministers of Foreign Affairs H.E. Fernando Núñez Fábrega and H.E. Enver Hoxhaj. Both Governments reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the United Nations and international law, including mutual respect for national sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs of another state. The first encounter between the two countries, which concluded with this Joint Communiqué, was held in July 2013 between the Ambassadors of the Republics of Panama and Kosovo to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. José M. Terán and H.E. Nexhi Rexhepi, in a coordinated process from The   Hague with their capitals. Foreign Ministers H.E. Enver Hoxhaj and H.E. Fernando Núñez Fábrega. 

 By Biljana Scott. Professor at Oxford University, Senior Lecturer at DiploFoundation and Visiting Professor at the London Academy of Diplomacy. ‘To campaign in poetry and govern in prose’[1] is a pithy adage known as a chiasmus: a rhetorical construction in which the second part of a sentence reverses the key words of the first part, and in so doing, redresses the initial proposition with a more desirable world view. The chiasmus is frequent in motivational speeches, and is often the device which makes a speech memorable.[2] Remember Kennedy’s ‘Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate’, and ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’.[3] And on the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’, we all recall his words: ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ [4] In addition to King’s refrains, which captivate attention through rousing rhythms, his speech is perhaps most memorable because he ushers, with every dream, a vision of the future which redresses the reality of today, and does so in heightened language. This is evident in the alliteration of /k/ and also in the rhythm of the final clause ‘by the color of their skin …’ which is strongly iambic up to the last word ‘character’, which takes a stress on every syllable for added emphasis. Whereas the poetical language of motivational speeches may seem better suited to politics than diplomacy, aspiration and redress are nevertheless central to diplomacy too. Where agreement cannot be found in the present, a shift of focus to the future may break through the current impasse: we all aspire to a better world for our children. And where the future seems too distant, we appeal to the values which define and guide us. The chiasmus ‘campaign in poetry; govern in prose’ is particularly well suited to diplomacy, which campaigns for redress, yet does so with an attention to detail which may appear as prosaic at times. Without the poetry, there is no vision or momentum, yet without prose, there is no progress.