Toespraak bij Expo in Shanghai

De toespraak is in het Engels gehouden:

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction

It is my great pleasure to take part in the presentation of the Netherlands Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. This ceremony is part of my official visit to China and it underscores the excellent bilateral relations between our countries. I am greatly impressed by China's achievements in the fields of sustainable growth, energy and investment. During my meetings with the Chinese government we expressed our mutual willingness to improve our bilateral cooperation even further.

Better city, better life

The world is looking forward to the start of the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. I was told that you expect 70 million visitors, which is a very impressive number! The Expo's theme is 'Better city, better life': a very interesting and relevant theme. Countries and regions all over the world face the challenge of urbanisation. How can we maintain and improve the quality of life of a rising number of urban citizens? How can we best manage and make use of scarce resources such as clean water, air and soil? How can we create a comfortable city that uses less energy? I congratulate the Shanghai World Expo Authority on their choice and thank them for offering the participants such an interesting thematic framework for their national pavilions.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country with a large economy. The Dutch had to be creative and innovative in order to combine our lack of space with a high quality of life.

• For centuries we have had to protect our land against the water. And we now have an effective and innovative coastal protection system. You can find Dutch water experts all over the world. As early as 1909, Shanghai called upon the services of Dutch engineer Johannes de Rijke. With his advice the city was able to prevent the Huangpu River from silting up!
• Space, whether public or private, is a scarce commodity in the Netherlands. This problem has been a source of great creativity. Dutch architects and designers are famous, and can be found in countries all over the world, including China.
• And what about new technologies? Companies like Philips have been creating innovative solutions since the early 1900s. Based on their pioneering work we now have a strong market position in micro-electronics, medical technology, consumer electronics and more.
• The Netherlands is the 'Gateway to Europe': an enormous European market is available to you through our ports and airports, and our highly-developed transport sector.
• Finally, the Dutch agri-business is one of the most competitive in the world. The development of new cooperation mechanisms between centres of expertise, businesses and government has enabled us to maintain a leading Dutch role in this sector.

Introduction Netherlands Pavilion

I've talked about water, innovative use of space, creative arts and developing better cities. These are all clearly reflected in the Netherlands Pavilion for EXPO 2010. I believe that the design reflects the original Dutch way of dealing with space. Or rather lack of space. The pavilion was designed by Dutch architect and visual artist John Körmeling. Its name is Happy Street.

Streets make up the fabric of every city. Happy Street represents an ideal street, in an ideal neighourhood or city, which people can experience in the Dutch way: on foot. Along the way, you will find a number of small Dutch houses. Each is a mini pavilion that showcases Dutch creativity and innovation in the use of space, energy, technology, art and water. We are confident that Happy Street will give the Chinese public an excellent impression of the Netherlands.

And we will be delighted to welcome you to our pavilion in 2010!

Thank you.