KATHMANDU, MARCH 11
Ambassador of the Netherlands to Nepal Marten van den Berg has said that the Netherlands was ready to share its expertise and knowledge network to help Nepal achieve its goals of socio-economic development. Van den Berg said the Netherlands had good knowledge of water management as it had been doing the job for last 600-700 years.
The Netherlands, which has unique experience in land reclamation and water management, is ready to help Nepal manage its water resources, including river management, water management in urban areas and purification of water.
The Dutch envoy said that climate change was another area where both countries could collaborate.
Stating that the Netherlands was building with nature and not fighting with nature, the ambassador said that his country was interested to share its experience with Nepal to mitigate the climate change impacts. The Netherlands which largely channel its assistance to Nepal through the European Union has also a long history of cooperation dating back to 1960's.
"Both the Netherlands and Nepal can collaborate to mitigate the challenge of climate change.
Our 25 per cent land is under sea, Nepal's Himalayan glaciers are melting fast. We can work together to mitigate the challenge of climate change," Berg added. Mitigation and adaptation are the best methods of dealing with climate change issues, he argued.
The ambassador said Nepali academicians and students could benefit from the Netherlands' agricultural university, which was among the world's best, to increase agricultural products in the country. "As far as trade relations between our two countries are concerned, there are some areas where we have two-way trades but due to farther distance between our two countries, we should explore new areas of cooperation particularly tourism and services," the Ambassador said and added that Nepal was a popular destination for Dutch people.
He said that 90 per cent of Nepal's tourism business was adversely affected by COVID-19 pandemic but now Nepal could expect to revive its tourism business. The Netherlands being a developed country can also help Nepal in the fields of information technology and renewable energy.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
