Chongqing – China and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations on May 18, 1972. Fifty years later, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Huub Buise, Consul General of the Netherlands in Chongqing, accepted iChongqing's exclusive interview and put forward new expectations for the two countries, especially in terms of space for cooperation with Chongqing.
"Chongqing is a special city"
Huub Buise came to Chongqing as Consul General of the Netherlands in September 2021. Before that, Huub Buise had worked in many countries. "I think that every city in some way is unique in the world. And every city has its own characteristics. But Chongqing, indeed, is a very special city," he said.
"I think the most spectacular thing about Chongqing is its unique infrastructure. People use so much creativity and engineering capacities to build metro lines, highways, pedestrian malls, high rises, all the spots, and everything is functioning," Buise added.
A train of Line 6 runs past Qiansimen Bridge. (Chongqing file photo)
"The other thing is the people," Buise said, "Chongqing people are very nice, very open, very hospitable, quite direct as well, and for Dutch people, which have a name for being direct as well."
"Last but not least, the hotpots, which of course is a very famous phenomenon of Chongqing, " Buise described Chongqing as "the city of spicy food, the city of bridges and the city of mountains."
50 years of diplomatic relations
China and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations on May 18, 1972.
According to Huub Buise, what China has achieved in its development has been reflected in bilateral relations. China has been cooperating with the Netherlands in the fields of economy, culture, politics, finance, customs, agriculture, and innovation and science.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Chongqing, together with the Chongqing Foreign Affairs Office and the Yuzhong District Foreign Affairs Office, organized a large-scale flower show in Jiefangbei from March 4 to March 14.
Huub Buise gave a speech at the "Netherlands Flower Installation" to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands in Chongqing. (Photo Provided to iChongqing)
In addition, Buise expects to hold more cultural events, such as painting, historic cooperation, books, or theaters. And he hopes to expand cultural cooperation, for instance, "to tell a story of how different cultures can meet each other, work together, and live together in a friendly way."
Furthermore, Buise pointed out that there is a lot of potentials to work with Chongqing on food safety, urban planning, sustainable building, and water use.
Connectivity and Increased Trade
The Netherlands opened a Consulate-General in Chongqing in 2013. Speaking of the reasons why the Netherlands chose Chongqing. Buise has unveiled the reasons.
"The Netherlands is a transport country, a logistics hub for Europe. And Chongqing is a logistics hub for China for between the west of China and Europe, between the east of China and West China, " Buise said that one of the reasons for choosing Chongqing lies in its connectivity and the strong connections by waterway transport, and now by the rail transport as well towards Europe.
Chongqing is a primary hub for China-Europe freight trains. The Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) railway, the first China-Europe freight train route, has launched more than 30 routes, connecting over 40 cities across 26 countries.
An aerial view of a Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) China-Europe freight train running beneath a bridge in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, taken on March 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)
"At the speed of handling of the possibility to deliver containers on the way, this train transport is in very edits and complementary way of working together on logistics between Chongqing and the Netherlands," Buise added.
In the future, Buise said the Netherlands could try to work together with Chongqing and Chengdu to see how to make those transport hubs more efficient through customs cooperation, and make more efficient use of those transport hubs towards the rest of Europe.
"It was mainly economic reasons that we would like to increase trade and investments in southwest China, in Chongqing," Buise said.
There are a lot of companies that have established themselves in the Chongqing and Chengdu region, and the Netherlands has good cooperation with local counterparts, according to Buise.
Make Chongqing and Netherlands come closer
Buise thinks that Chongqing and Chengdu are very complementary in the way they produce, have their scientific development, and have innovative capacity.
"The Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle as an economic entity in southwest China with increased connectivity, increased efficiency, bigger consumer markets, as well, a more efficient production facility. This region is of growing interest for European companies, for Dutch companies," Buise said.
Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. (iChongqing file photo)
Buise also mentioned that Chongqing is more and more developing its technologies, its universities, the new scientific areas, the new trade zones, the scientific city, and education cities.
"It's interesting as well for our universities, for our companies to see how in these new dynamics in Chongqing," Buise said, "It makes both countries come closer, and Chongqing and Netherlands come closer. "
Buise hopes that Chinese tourists can come to the Netherlands after the pandemic, and Dutch tourists can visit China. He said he will try to promote the Netherlands as a reliable, creative, innovative, critical country, as well as a friend of China.
At the end of the interview, Buise shared his feelings, "I'm very happy and proud to be part of that development today, and to be in Chongqing, and to witness, and to cooperate with the Chongqing authorities to mutually go one step further in the cooperation."