Ontmoeting met het bedrijfsleven in Bogotá, Colombia
Staatssecretaris van Financiën Frans Weekers hield op 29 maart 2012 een toespraak voor vertegenwoordigers met het bedrijfsleven in Colombia. Hij legde daarbij de nadruk op de goede onderlinge verstandhouding en het belang voor ondernemers van een belastingverdrag tussen Chili en Nederland.
De kunst van oversteken
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me pleasure to welcome you here today.
I would like to thank the Ambassador, Marion Kappeyne van de Coppello, for hosting this cocktail party at the Dutch embassy in Bogotá.
To many Dutch people, Colombia is a magical country.
That is the image we have from the novels and stories
of your renowned writer Gabriel García Márquez.
Márquez is popular in the Netherlands.
Almost every Dutch bookcase contains a copy of Cien Años de Soledad, his world famous novel about the Buendía family.
You could say that this book built a bridge
between Colombia and the Netherlands.
And what a wonderful book it is.
The Dutch title is: 100 Jaar Eenzaamheid.
The very first sentence intrigues: ‘Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.’
This is followed by a description of the village of Macondo,
built on the bank of a river with clear water
and a bed of polished white stones, like ‘prehistoric eggs’.
A splendid place to start a book: this unspoilt village
on the banks of an unspoilt river.
The book was published 45 years ago, and Colombia is no longer
the country Márquez described in 1967.
It has developed since then, in many ways for the better.
The clear water Márquez describes on page one of his masterpiece
is still in abundant supply here in Colombia.
Both Colombia and the Netherlands have become prosperous
thanks to their location close to water.
Because water presents attractive opportunities
for transport, agriculture and tourism and for building homes.
But there is a downside.
Water is a wonderful friend, but a dangerous enemy.
With so much water, our countries are particularly vulnerable
to extreme weather conditions and climate change.
The Netherlands has built a reputation
for its expertise in water management.
Our two countries are already working together in this field,
and we will do so even more in the years to come.
It was no coincidence that a major UN conference on water
was held in your capital a few years ago, and that it was chaired
by our Crown Prince, himself a water manager of repute.
Water management is a relatively young field.
It presents considerable opportunities to step up cooperation
between our two countries.
And we have plenty to offer each other in other innovative fields,
like logistics and biofuels.
The Netherlands is one of the main investors in Latin America and has proved itself to be a reliable partner.
The largest Dutch companies like Philips, Shell, Unilever, Akzo-Nobel en KLM all have branches in Colombia.
On Saturday I will be visiting Suata Plants, the Colombian branch of the Dutch flower grower HilverdaKooij.
We like doing business here in Colombia, because of its stable economy, well-developed financial system and first-rate prospects for growth.
In return, more than a billion and a half dollars’ worth of Colombian products are shipped into the Port of Rotterdam every year.
They include fuels of various kinds, raw materials and, of course,
coffee and lots of fruit and vegetables.
The Dutch are fond of Colombian coffee.
And Colombian bananas are popular too.
With all this trade between Colombia and the Netherlands,
good fiscal agreements are essential.
It is difficult and expensive for our business sectors if they don’t know how much tax they owe, when they will have to pay it or to whom. Fortunately, our two countries agree on that.
That is why we are working hard together on a first-rate tax treaty,
from which both our countries will benefit.
The negotiations are on track.
A third round is planned for the end of April.
I expect our officials to reach agreement.
This new treaty will give both Colombian companies in the Netherlands and Dutch companies in Colombia good prospects, certainty and more attractive tax rates.
And it will strengthen relations between our two countries.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen,
Gabriel García Márquez built the first bridge between our two countries. In the past decades, the private sector has followed suit.
And now at political and official level, with this tax treaty,
we are making the final link in our relations.
Now I would like to propose a toast:
Por el presente y por el pasado;
Por nuestra asociación
y por nuestra amistad.
Pero sobre todo:
¡Por nuestro futuro!