The Dutch interlocutor

The recent Dutch country focus of Diplomacy & Trade featured an interview with the head of the Political and Economic Department who says the Embassy is prepared to act as an interlocutor between the Dutch business community and the Hungarian authorities.

“The Royal Dutch Embassy is concentrating on economic and socio-political activities where it can provide added value. The priority sectors in the economic-commercial sphere are water management, transports and logistics, sustainable energy, and creative industries,” the head of the Political and Economic Department, Bert van der Lingen explains to Diplomacy & Trade.

Apart from supporting Dutch companies in those sectors, the Embassy is also trying to gain effective inroads at governmental, county and local levels so as to bring Dutch approaches and companies to the attention of our Hungarian contacts.

He adds that the Embassy is also prepared to act as an interlocutor between the Dutch business community and the Hungarian authorities in case questions arise concerning the Hungarian business and investment climate and on specific issues. Our basic attitude in our contacts with our Hungarian counterparts is that we always strive for partnership on an equal footing.

Van der Lingen considers bilateral economic relations as traditionally good. The Netherlands is the 3rd biggest investor in Hungary with some EUR 12 bn investment stock in 2012 and the 12th biggest trade partner for Hungary. The volume of bilateral trade has reached EUR 4.3 bn in 2013 (EUR 1.8 bn as Dutch imports and EUR 2.6 bn as Dutch exports.

The major commodities are machines (printers, TVs, telecom equipment, cars), making up 55% of the Dutch export in 2012, followed by food products with 14%, non-edible raw materials (8%) and chemicals (7%).

“The Embassy publishes a newsletter on a monthly basis, giving a short overview of our main activities and providing major economic developments in Hungary that can be interesting for our readers. The target group is mainly Dutch business people active in Hungary, but ministries and branch organizations in the Netherlands are also among our readers. After some internal restructuring at the Embassy we have recently decided to up-date and streamline the format of the newsletter in order to increase focus on the above mentioned priority sectors,” the department head explains.

According to Embasy statistics, there are 1,500 registered Dutch companies in Hungary, employing up to 50,000 employees. Embassy staff have many occasions to meet with representatives of these firms. Many companies that want to be active in Hungary come to the Embassy for information/advice. Van der Lingen finds it important to mention that, in general, when Dutch companies decide to enter a market they do it ‘for the long haul’, and not ‘for the quick buck’.

The Embassy offers tailor-made support to Dutch companies at the start of their activities on the Hungarian market and actively promotes level playing field circumstances for them. “We are regularly organizing CEO lunches where general economic and trade topics are discussed with representatives of the Hungarian government. Hungary’s attractive features are the good infrastructure and the well-educated workforce at competitive salary levels. Our activities center around Budapest, as most of our Dutch companies are concentrated around the capital, but of course we also regularly visit companies in the countryside,” Bert van der Lingen concludes.