Chongqing - Dutch Consul General in Chongqing Koen Sizoo, told iChongqing that he's very interested in the further development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and compared its strategic significance to those of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta economic circles, after watching the live opening ceremony of the fourth session of the Fifth Chongqing Municipal People's Congress with a group of foreign diplomats, on Jan 21, Chongqing.
As the longest-serving foreign consul general here in Chongqing, and also the leader of the delegation of foreign consuls and consuls-general invited by the municipal foreign affairs office to sit in on the Chongqing Two Sessions via video link, Koen Sizoo, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said that he had had three other experiences of participating in the previous Chongqing Two Sessions.
"Unfortunately, we can not go to the Great Hall of the People because it's a wonderful location... but fortunately, the municipal foreign affairs office has organized this alternative, which is very useful and shows great innovation," said Koen Sizoo.
He also said that his consulate had been committed to facilitating the bilateral social and economic exchanges and collaborations, "We try to improve relations between Chongqing and the Netherlands. Our main focus is economic, but we try and work in other fields as well."
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the previously scheduled activities had been postponed or canceled. The Dutch Consulate General still managed to move some of the social events online and bring the two peoples of Chongqing and the Netherlands into contact.
When asked about the city's 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2020 Government Work Report, deliberated and reviewed by the deputies to the NPC Chongqing during the ongoing Chongqing Two Sessions, Koen Sizoo said that it was a huge yet prudently designed task ahead of the Chongqing municipal government. "I'm struck by the fact that 'high quality' is now the best word in the plan... I think it's a huge effort, and I wish it every success."
He also added that he's really impressed by the idea of constructing the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, which he referred to as an "economic powerhouse" in the west of China with the same strategic significance of the megacity clusters in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. "We're still seeing how it will develop, but I think it's very important for the development of the country, the inland region also needs its economic and cultural engine."