Speech Ambassador at curtain raising ceremony program of the upcoming exhibition called “Showcase CDMB”on February 16-18 2012 at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel

News article | October 11, 2011

Dear ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I am very pleased to be here at the curtain raising ceremony of the upcoming exhibition “Showcase CDMB -Clean Development Mechanism Bangladesh” which will take place in February of next year.

I would like to thank Exponet Exhibition for organising this inaugurational program as well as the main event in February, as both events are important for branding Bangladesh as a country that welcomes eco-friendly business initiatives.

The Netherlands Embassy fully supports these events, which will enable companies to get information about eco-friendly modern technologies. I believe that these new methods, which often imply more efficient production processes, are not only beneficial to the environment, but can also be more profitable for the business.

The Netherlands government attaches great importance to compliance with environmental standards. Therefore, our companies are highly skilled and equipped with the latest technologies to live up to those standards. In that respect, Dutch business is leading in a number of sectors, such as the (sustainable) energy sector, water management as well as agro processing.

Dutch expertise:

I am pleased to know that the showcase in February will be focusing on Green Industrial Equipment, Bio-Diversity & Agricultural Machinery and Renewable Energy Technology. You can be sure to find strong business partners in the Netherlands, who have relevant expertise in these sectors. Let me elaborate on this.

I will take the agro-food industry as an example. Not randomly, of course: food security, with an emphasis on quality, diversity of food and access to food, is a top priority in the Dutch development policy worldwide, and particularly relevant for Bangladesh. And this is precisely a sector in which cooperation between our businesses can play an immensely important role!

The main aim of our programme will be to look for ways to add value by sharing Dutch knowledge and expertise, and will concentrate on identifying investment and trade opportunities, for example in logistics. Possible entry points for the Netherlands’ development cooperation with Bangladesh on food security include strengthening producers, integrating smallholders in the value chains and helping provide farmers access to rural infrastructure.

The agro-food industry rates among the top three contributors to the Dutch GDP. Our food industry consists of about 4150 companies, and nearly one in six people working in industry holds a job in the food sector, which has a net turnover of over €60 billion. So, the Dutch agriculture sector is one of the main drivers of the Dutch economy and the Dutch food industry proportionally holds a larger share in the national industrial production than in other countries of the European Union, not in the last place because the Netherlands is the country of origin of several world-renowned food and dairy multinationals.

So, our agro-food industry has a strong international focus: almost half of revenues are generated abroad. Six of the world's top 100 food companies are Netherlands based. Some of the largest and internationally most active companies are: Unilever, DSM, Heineken, FrieslandCampina, and Nutreco.

The Netherlands is also a hotbed of R&D in the area of agriculture technology, particularly thanks to the work of the universities of Wageningen, Groningen, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Maastricht. These activities are supported by the presence of leading institutes and companies in the area of seeds, food processing, logistics, engineering and other related industries. These companies can not only provide useful information for the pre-harvesting to processing stage– but also for what needs to be done after that: storage, distribution, transport, etc.

So please note that Dutch companies and R&D institutes are there, with knowledge and technology on agro-food production, processing and infrastructure for adequate transfer of goods.

I have given the example of agro-food, but I could give a similar account of our renewable energy sector.

As we all know, unfortunately Bangladesh is facing an energy crisis as only 42% of its people are connected to the electricity grid and, in the rural areas, where 80% of the population lives, only 22% has electricity.

In that context, it is important to know that the development of sustainable energy technology is a top priority in the Netherlands. Active partnerships between Dutch industry, government and knowledge institutes have cleared the way for energy innovation and efficiency. We’ve created partnerships all over the world, and our products are being used worldwide: from wind turbines in China to solar panels in Bangladesh!

Pragmatic approach:

Driven by the need to optimise the use of its small and crowded country, the Netherlands has developed a dynamic ‘ecosystem’ of environmental technologies, systems, organisations and regulations. In fact, the Netherlands has one of the world’s highest densities of environmental companies per citizens.

Our, and the Bangladeshi approach to the many environmental challenges is comparable: both our countries are facing similar challenges related to climate change, and land- and water management. Because we live in a delta, a vulnerable environment, we have to be extra pragmatic and extra economical when using our scarce natural resources.

Dutch funding instruments

I am pleased to inform you that the Dutch government stimulates cooperation between Dutch and Bangladeshi companies via various Business-to-Business (B-2-B) instruments. In particular, four instruments are interesting to mention at this occasion.

1)    The Private Sector Investment programme (PSI) offers financial support to entrepreneurs wishing to set up an innovative Joint Venture in Bangladesh. The maximum project budget is 1.5 million euro, of which 50 percent will be provided in the form of a grant. Currently, 20 businesses have been established in Bangladesh with the help of PSI funding.

2)    Secondly, the Match Making Facility (MMF) is of interest to many Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, as it provides Bangladeshi companies with the opportunity to find a Dutch Partner for implementing joint activities.

3)    ORIO is another facility available to support governments in emerging countries to realize major infrastructure projects in cooperation with the international business community.

4)    A fourth business promoting scheme funded by the Netherlands is called PUM. Under this programme, senior professional experts are sent to help companies in developing countries. These experts transfer and share their knowledge in an efficient manner, thereby promoting self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Information on these funding instruments and other business opportunities with the Netherlands can be found on the website of our Embassy. Do not hesitate to contact the economic section of the Embassy if you have any enquiry about partnerships with Dutch companies. We are there to support you with finding the right trade partner.

Conclusion:

Let me finish by once more congratulating the organisers of the upcoming exhibition in February. I trust that event will be a good opportunity for companies to learn about profitable and environmentally friendly technologies that are available nowadays, and to find the right business partners who can help them with putting these new methods in place. It is a great occasion for businesses to learn more about how they can actively support and realize the principles of corporate social responsibility, and the three P’s: People, Planet, and Profit!

Thank you for your kind attention.